iPhone - (Reality Distorition Field)^2
I was horribly underwhelmed by the MacWorld keynote yesterday. Has the media lost he ability to be critical of Apple? I’m starting to think that most of them have. Although there are lots of merits to the iPhone, it isn’t the huge revolution that Steve Jobs would want us all to think. I know some are going to disagree (*cough*tim*cough*) with me but I’m going to post my thoughts either way. Here’s the beef:
- iPhone is not an iPod. The iPod is a great music player for one major reason—the design traded off the generic interface that a lot of competitors had (e.g. PocketPC) and focused on making an interface that works great for music (and then marketed the hell out of it). I can use my iPod interface without looking at it (which I do all the time); you can’t do that with the iPhone. The iPhone has the feeling of Apple’s second crack at the Newton and they shouldn’t try to pass it off as anything else—way to dilute the value of the iPod “brand.”
- Typing on a touch screen!? Come on. The main reason why the mini-keyboard works on all the “inferior” devices is that there is tactile feedback. I can type on my crackberry without having to really look and peck. My thumbs can feel the “home” positions.
- Apple didn’t invent most of the stuff on the iPhone. e.g. Microsoft’s PocketPC has had full browsing since I was in high school.
- This is not for business users. It’s totally a consumer product. How do I know? The “e-mail push” from Yahoo! and no real exchange push support. The didn’t even explain the “push” enough for me to comment on any further.
- It costs A LOT!
- Not everything they showed is good. For example, the vast majority of the internet apps I saw were bandwidth intensive. Since (in Canada at least) carriers charge $10/mb, I’m quite sure most consumers (see 4) aren’t going to like that cost. That’s why a lot of smart phones do things the way they do things—to save bandwidth.
- Zooming in/out of webpages has been done… a long time ago.
- Java?! Third-party development?! Hello?!
There are quite a few other little things but I’ll leave it at that. In general, the iPhone has some coolness (e.g. the interface which was probably ripped off from this guy) but I don’t feel it’s a product that’s nearly as good as his Jobsness professes. Perhaps if we had a 3G network and they spent a little more time on some of the issues I mentioned above then it will really make some headway.
Of course, since it’s an Apple product that is tied to the iPod it’ll probably sell to a bunch of people—I’d guess mainly fanboys with too much money on their hands. Apple has to be careful though, fanboys and the iPod brand will only take you so far.
p.s. I just found this which is also critical of the iPhone. Thankfully I’m not the only one.
January 11th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
I agree. The iPhone doesn’t look like something that I’d want.
January 15th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
You and Paul are being very elitist D000Dez.
Now, that being said, I think there’s a chance you D00Dz might change your minds once you get one in your hands.. based on the articles I’ve read here of people who’ve actually used it so far, it’s been pretty impressive (not earth shattering, needing more work, but still impressive).. remember that the iPod didn’t look so impressive on paper feature-by-feature, but 3 iPods later you’re still happy with it, no?
I haven’t used one yet, and I don’t want to be seen as an Apple fanboy, so I’m going to hold off judgement on it for now..
I’ll just say that I’m not quite prepared to attribute the incredible media attention this announcement has received as simply, “Steve’s reality distortion field”. I would rather say that due to Apple’s recent successes, more people than ever before are looking to harshly criticize the “revolutionary products” the company produces.
In other words, they are a company known for some pretty incredible innovations, and despite Steve’s hyperbolistic speaking style, they still make some amazing stuff.
I think marketing only goes so far..
As an avid follower of the stock, I’ll tell you that there’s a significant group of “bearish” investors that are convinced that Apple’s run is over (or will be soon). I’d also say ever since the stupid Mac ads claiming that “mac’s don’t have viruses” were aired, this has been an open invitation to write viruses for the platform. The point being, there is definitely a cohort that doesn’t follow along with Apple’s every word.
And yet, people across the board are pretty excited about this iPhone. I mean, even the competitors (Samsung, Nokia, etc) are excited about it!
Once again, I’ll hold off judgement until I see/hear more about what this device will actually be like in my hands. There is the chance that this will reign in Wired’s 8th annual vaporware awards come year end. There’s also a chance that Cingular’s service will be so horrible that nobody beyond the bleeding edge will buy one. And yes, there’s also a chance this thing will indeed “do for cell phones what the iPod did for mp3 players” (as it currently stands this is probably least likely, but then again, that’s what brilliant innovative products are all about..)
As a final note, don’t fall into the trap of the critic swimming upstream and paddling too hard; remember that June’s iPhone will bring a “version 1.0″, and with it there will be room to grow.
If you’re against the hyperboles that dominate Apple’s marketing materials (which I will admit sometimes annoy me as well), here’s a link for you:
http://cache.gizmodo.com/gadgets/images/iProduct.gif
January 15th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
Correction:
Paul didn’t really say anything, my apologies for including you in the post.