Missed Calls

After almost 21 months of my stay in Minneapolis-US, I was just back home at that time. I did not have a cell phone. I had a landline, so I did not feel the real need for a cell phone. This was just before my engagement. People talked about me as if I am a very strange person because I did not have a cell phone. Only then I realized how cell phone had become an integral part of our lives with-in a span of less than 2 years (while I was not in the country...!). Cell phone is okay; a feature in cell phone has become very important in many people's day-to-day lives.

It's been a month now since Apple announced about its product iPhone. While the debates of whether this product will succeed or fail in the market have almost faded away, I had a doubt about a feature in this product. The feature, which has become very important in many people's day-to-day lives. That’s gonna be the deciding factor for many people whether to buy or not.

Apple's portal states that iPhone combines three products — a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, maps, and searching — into one small and lightweight handheld device. iPhone also introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting you control everything with just your fingers. So it ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, completely redefining what you can do on a mobile phone. ...Blah...blah...blah....

All these are okay;

Can I make missed calls using iPhone?

What if iPhone does not have that feature? Say, you dial a number, you can't terminate the call, it has to be answered or rings to the fullest or gets to the voice mail. Would you buy a phone with such feature?

No kidding. I enabled international dialling feature in my phone just to make missed calls. I would leave a missed call to my friends' phone, they would call back (well, most of the time). (You must ask my friend Arasan how much he is spending on phone bill after I enabled ISD in my phone).

This article in Hidustan Times says that Indians are (in)famous for missed calls - communicating without answering the calls. Article lists some points that we Indians communicate effectively through "missed calls".
Points from the article are:
"I'm thinking about you"
"Call me back."
"To let the other person know that someone has reached some place safely"

The article missed out an important point..."To annoy someone" (or read it "To tease your close ones"). Have you ever done that? Are you using 'missed calls' for anything other than this? Please share it, I am sure it would be very helpful to lot of souls.

Article also states that mobile companies are losing money because of 'missed calls' (obviously!). What if mobile companies & phone manufacturers decide to somehow stop this great feature? That's my main worry.