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The iPhone Cometh . . . Again

Started by sbspalding · 11 months ago

I’m going to start this column with a question (which is not really how I like to do things, but we all need a little change now and again), why is the iPhone such a big deal? Ahhh, I can already hear the shouting that’s going on in the brains of so many. [...]




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18 comments

  • Business networking

    11 months ago

    I couldn't agree with you more. Today I walked by the Apple store at the Biltmore in Phoenix. There was a huge line out the door, around the corner, to the street. They were letting maybe 30-40 people in the store at a time. I asked one of the guys in line, what's going on. He replied "their selling the new iphone, where have you been on the moon". These idiots were waiting outside in the Phoenix heat for at least an hour, just to get an iphone.

    Why do they need it on the first day? Wait a week and you can walk in without any line. Geeks.
    reply
  • Greg Hollingsworth

    11 months ago

    My question is why they need to buy an iPhone at all? Have we become so tied to our digital lives that we need to be able to access it anywhere and everywhere, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?

    I use my cell phone to make phone calls, occassionally send text messages and play Tiger Woods Golf when I'm in waiting rooms.
    reply
  • Maggy Young

    11 months ago

    But iphones isn't really what they're selling. Reminds me of a comment I read re. Nike that they don't sell shoes they sell an image. And to be among the first in your locality to have that image means you're among the coolest walking if only for a week. You're right, Steve Jobs real achievement was to give Apple cool & cred, so it doesn't matter if you don't even use the iphone, its having it which counts.
    reply
  • Greg Hollingsworth

    11 months ago

    I think the turtleneck industry owes more to Steve Jobs than the tech industry. The man has single handedly created the image for a new generation of hipsters.

    He has managed to do the one thing that no one thought was possible, he has made it hip to be square (or at least rectangular)
    reply
  • Internet Marketing Strategies

    11 months ago

    I totally agree with you, does anyone remember life BEFORE ANY cell phones, damn, we were able to survive right? The more they make the more we want. It never ends, I am waiting for the day of the ultimate technology where people will just implant a Ipod chip into their brains so they don't have to carry anything at all!
    reply
  • Greg Hollingsworth

    11 months ago

    I remember life with cell phones when they were actually phones, not life tools. My LGVX9400 (the phone used by Tony Stark in the new Iron Man movie) has been all that I've ever needed in a phone.

    The overriding point is that this is not a revolution in technology, the vast majority of the population in this world neither needs or can afford an iPhone (or a cell phone for that matter).
    reply
  • Greg Hollingsworth

    11 months ago

    I think this article from the Mercury News sums up my point pretty well. Apple is about image and money, it's a lifestyle not a tool.

    http://origin.mercurynews.com/apple/ci_9860792?...
    reply
  • Please research first

    11 months ago

    reply
  • Greg Hollingsworth

    11 months ago

    I think you misunderstood my point, perhaps I misstated my point, either way, I was trying to make the case that the Apple lifestyle has begun to overshadow the products they create.

    Apple is in the business of creating "tools" for the tech-elite, but they're also in the business of selling their counter-culture image to hipsters with lots of expendable income. The iPhone is as necessary to a normal person as a pair of Jimmy Chu's or an H3.

    Sure it can do all sorts of things, but is it truly an innovation? Apple by it's own projections expects to sell 60 million iPhone in the next 18 months, if they can pull that off (in an economic climate that is seeing people tighten their belts and cut down on needless expenses) I will be impressed. It's not something that makes everyone's life easier, it doesn't bring new technology to the people that they can't get anywhere else, it gives the tech-elite a new toy to play with, nothing more.

    Oh, and as much as I love RWW, I don't see how a single article by Alex Iskold should convince me that the iPhone is literally going to change the world. The 1st Gen iPhone was supposed to change the way we communicate, funny, it hasn't. The iPhone 3G won't change the wya that we communicate either, it might make it more convenient for those who can afford it, but the vast majority of people the world over can't.

    Oh, and if you plan on issuing criticisms (which I am completely open to), leave a real name. Hiding in anonymity isn't constructive.
    reply
  • sbspalding

    11 months ago

    I have an iPod Touch, but I probably won't be getting an iPhone anytime soon. My problem is that too many of the features overlap, and I have a perfectly good phone when all I want to do is make calls.

    That being said, I think Greg is right. The iPhone won't change the way we communicate. It's a phone with some fancy features, great. What the iPhone might do is become a cheap, viable alternative to the laptop for people who have limited use cases.

    The iPod Touch lets me write emails, compose notes, run applications (which will become increasingly complex) and surf the web. For a lot of people this is exactly what they use their laptops for. If you add to it that the form factor is slim and manageable, all you need is a more responsive keypad and you have a very good alternative to lugging a bulky laptop around.

    Of course, if you do -anything- more intensive than write, read and some light transactions then you'll want something heftier but for some it could be a very good choice.
    reply
  • freegasdvd

    11 months ago

    I just don't get all the iphone hype. The phone is going to go down in price soon enough. I'm holding out for a phone with an embedded projector which is coming soon!
    reply
  • diego018

    11 months ago

    .....
    reply
  • iphone downloads

    11 months ago

    whats wrong ..., i know that the iphone is already a bit overrated, but, can your normal cellphone access the web as a normal browser? let me guess... not!!!
    can you in your normal cellphone organize your pictures, slide them with your fingers, and..
    if you have an iphone, it can be a conversation starter:
    hey, its that your iphone?
    hey, its and iphone or an itouch?
    are often questions i receive.. and i have met some people.. anyway this make me feel a little different from other people
    reply
  • Gadget Mania

    9 months ago

    I really don't think that the i phone is such a big deal . I mean what is so great about it , yes you can hear music and talk and all that stuff. But why is that so important?

    Why are we not creating such a big hype when a book comes out?
    reply
  • iPhone

    9 months ago

    Gadget Mania,
    Obviously you haven't got your hands on one. Get one and I am sure you'll see what's all the hype is about.
    reply
  • Wholesale Electronics

    7 months ago

    I have to admit the iPhone is so much more than just a phone and even as a phone it doesn't do that well. The basic features like the innovative touch screen, mp3 capability and a variety of applications is what really launched the iPhone in to a must have market. They combined a CELL PHONE, PDA and an MP3 PLAYER all in one device and targeted nearly every electronics consumer.

    Half the time I find that I don't use half of the features on my iPhone other than Notes, Maps, Internet and Texting but not having those features would create desire to have them... the grass is always greener on the other side. There isn't a chance that I would trade my iPhone for another phone.

    I wish it had tethering though... it'd save me $70/month on my AT&T wireless card.

    -Jason
    reply
  • iphone

    3 months ago

    Vil Apps4rent (http://www.apps4rent.com) fungere med deres exchange hosting-plan?
    Slik jeg forstår det, vil da eposter jeg leser og sender osv i Mail.app, bli automatisk oppdatert/sync'et med jobben og mobiltelefonen? ...og omvendt
    reply
  • Ann Arbor real estate guy

    1 month ago

    Wow,

    Anytime someone calls the iPhone expensive I have to wonder what their time is worth.

    My iPhone saves me about a half an hour a day compared to my Palm Centro.

    Since I value my time that means that the iphone is about the cheapest phone available!
    reply

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