09 Jan 2007
GeekSwoon
Oh. My. Giddy. Aunt.
I am not a woman who swoons, but following the liveblogging of the Apple Keynote on Macrumorslive -- waiting with bated breath for every 60 second auto-refresh (Quick! I've got 60 seconds to run to the bathroom...) -- I very nearly had a quiet geekly swoon.
So shiny.
It's not just the amazing hardware advances (a multi-touch touchscreen, 2 MP camera, 8GB memory, and two batteries in that tiny, elegant package), but the wonderful software implementations (automatic flipping of the layout of a photo or webpage from portrait to landscape as you tilt the phone, proximity sensors, etc, etc.). And the colours! And the shiny, lovely icons!
Ahem. Forgive me. I haven't been quite this breathlessly excited about an Apple Keynote in a couple of years. They've had some lovely stuff, but nothing that really blew the top of my head off. When I heard the rumours about an iPhone, I was sure that it was going to a) not appear, or b) be a bit of a disappointment. I really don't know quite how they've done it, but they certainly haven't disappointed.
Oh dear, I can see that I've got some serious saving and cost justifications to make to Mr. Bsag before the end of this year. And I bet the mobile phone company they use in the UK isn't who my existing contract is with.
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I'm having a hard time restisting shuffling our budget to not plan to buy two of them, one for my wife and one for myself. *swoon*. Now to see how far they take the software, especially synchronization.by Damien McKenna @ 09/01/2007 10:04 pm • Permalink
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Q4 in Europe? That's many months of expectant hyperventilation. I hope my heart can take the pressure! Still, it gives us time to save up, and to run down any current contracts with the 'wrong' mobile operator... By the way, unlike comment 1, I think it will help a lot more people switch to Apple computers. And there's no point in releasing Leopard right now if it isn't ready yet.by David (TEFL Smiler) @ 09/01/2007 11:07 pm • Permalink
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Oh, my point was not that they should release a product that isn't ready - but that they had clearly devoted a lot of developer time to the phone. In other words, it may well have come down to a stategic choice - do we go head to head with Vista, or do we develop OS X mobile, or whatever the phone's OS is to be called. Don't get me wrong, I'd love one of these. I may even get one, though not until it comes to the UK. But it will be a hard cost to justify. It will be the most expensive phone on the market, and that means walking past a lot of very servicable alternatives.by Nicholas @ 09/01/2007 11:14 pm • Permalink
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I am so with you on this one. I think I watched the all demos on the Apple site about 20 times. I'm going to be counting down the days to June...I think I'd freak out if I had to wait even longer (due to living elsewhere).6
IT'S A PHONE........... Grow up children! It is only another means of taking your money - again! 18 months down the line it will be "The last good thing but one". Any of you bought a DAB radio recently as a result of the relentless pushing of this inadequate product, in fact so inadequate that the whole system is to be replaced in a couple of years, and it is doubtful whether it will be backwards compatible.... now about that Blue Ray stuff.by Jonathan Briggs @ 10/01/2007 11:49 am • Permalink
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Let me know once someone has hacked it to make calls over VoIP when it is in a WiFi zone. It is too bad Apple didn't build in that functionality themselves.8
I'm heading to MacWorld in 1/2 hour. I dreamt last night I was there and was looking at the iPhone and the guy disappeared and suddenly I was home -- with an iPhone. You can just IMAGINE my disappointment when I woke up...9
I think, for me, the killer point is that it makes all other high-end phones look ten years out-of-date. I bought an iPod about three or fours years ago. I still take it with me everywhere. An eerie corollary is that I'm strongly thinking my next computer will be a mac. I also read this blog, which has insidiously and relentlessly manoeuvered me to geekdom. And other things.10
Nicholas: I had some of the same worries a few years ago when it became clear that iPods were becoming a big seller for Apple. I worried that they'd just drop the computers completely. But that didn't happen, they switched to Intel with great results, and Leopard (what we've seen of it so far) looks great. Personally, I think that all the amazing brain work and innovation they've put into the iPhone will pay enormous dividends (eventually) for the computer hardware and the OS. Even if the benefits aren't direct, the ways of thinking about how to redefine the UI and integrate it with the hardware that they've developed will certainly have a positive effect on the rest of the line. Yes, it's a lot of money, but when you look at what you get, I think it's quite good value. I'm fairly sure that they will go like hot cakes when they go on sale. Damien McKenna: I know what you mean. David (TEFL Smiler): I think a bit of breathing space is probably a good thing. mahalie: The odd thing is, I think I'd be just as excited if I had no intention of buying one. It's just so nice to see this kind of thing done so elegantly. Jonathan Briggs: I'm with you as far as throwing money around indiscriminately goes, but only that far. There's bad (or at least indifferent) technology that's the equivalent of the kinds of derivative art you see which is produced just to cynically cash in, and then there's the occasional Van Gogh that redefines things completely. But of course it's just a different arrangement of paint on a canvas. Is it childish to get excited when someone solves immense technical problems, thinks deeply about how to design an interface so that humans using it will feel it's entirely natural, and goes to great lengths to make it aesthetically pleasing in numerous and subtle ways? Perhaps, but personally, I think that developments in art, technology and science are among the most impressive and important (though of course, not always beneficial) things that humans do. Is it childish to be excited by the latest scientific theory because it will be superseded in a few years? What you're upset about is so called technological 'standards' that are either not technically good in the first place (DAB) or compete with similar 'standards' where one of them will lose out (betamax vs. VHS for example). Quality pieces of engineering will always be exciting and impressive, even if they inevitably get superseded. I still like steam engines, and admire the people who developed them. Milan: My guess is that they had to compromise with Cingular, who worried about people making free phone calls, but I'd be amazed if they don't do it themselves at some point when Cingular realises that the iPhone brings them loads of new customers. Pica: :-D That's a cruel dream
Lighty: Ah, so my fiendish plan for world domination via subliminal influences is taking effect! Excellent [steeples hands in Mr. Burns fashion]... I'm intrigued by the 'And other things' - do tell...
by bsag @ 10/01/2007 8:08 pm • Permalink
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Well, I might be able to waffle a bit about your style and how engagingly you deal with a spectrum of subjects - Sufism for example, Geekish women, Brazil etc. But hey, a story I heard: Blaise Cendrars was once asked, with other French writers and intellectuals (they were all men in those days) what were the qualities in women that struck him the most. The other writers wrote at length on the subject but Blaise just replied with "Innocence." If I could pick one word to sum up this site I would say "Perfection." What I am saying is you seem to put so much thought and care into your work that it gets a little addictive! Me done and have a lovely evening.
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Chris: Aw, now I'm blushing! I swear that I wasn't fishing for compliments. I was expecting you to say that you'd woken up one morning with a sudden and inexplicable urge to grow sweetcorn that you'd eventually traced back to this blog!by bsag @ 10/01/2007 11:16 pm • Permalink
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And in my embarrassment, I forgot to say thank you for the wonderful compliment. I'll go now, before I commit any more faux pas.by bsag @ 10/01/2007 11:18 pm • Permalink
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Get giddy on this: http://www.macshrine.com/2007/01/11/closer-look-at-the-iphone/by Damien McKenna @ 12/01/2007 12:12 am • Permalink
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If you want true innovation buy a skype phone! I agree with Jonathan that essentially it's a very expensive toy. The ipod was pretty innovative though if I remember rightly not the first MP3 type player. This phone as Nicholas says completes the transition of Apple into an upmarket consumer products company. Expect them in five years to be Sony's shoes trying desperately to stay ahead of the competition which will be cheaper though less stylish. It's not a good time to be consumer electronics! I also wonder about their business plan. In three years will we see them selling to regular Mobile Networks, will Apple have taken a slice of the market, or will the iphone sink like the titantic because they've deliberately infringed upon a trademark owned by Cisco Systems (filed in 2000 ayear before Apple launched the ipod!). Okay I'm a cynic but I'm not really all that impressed...by Ian @ 12/01/2007 4:41 pm • Permalink
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Of course it is an expensive toy, it's fun, and it's rather beautiful. That's why they'll sell them as fast as they can make them. The iPod is illogical too, those little portable CD players do almost the same thing for 1/10th of the price, but we all want an iPod don't we? And for pretty much the same reason the iPhone will be wildly successful, and you will end up wanting one. Resistance is futile!
by ThoughtBadger @ 13/01/2007 3:30 am • Permalink
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Colour me unconvinced: http://www.renhip.com/blog/2007/01/09/the-end-of-apple/ It's lovely, yes. But hard to justify - for apple or for us.by Nicholas @ 09/01/2007 9:55 pm • Permalink