20 June 07 | tags: apple, tech |
The iPhone Cometh
No, I'm not getting an iPhone next Friday, for two reasons. One, I can't justify dropping $500 on a gadget right now, and two, I want to wait to see how it performs before I consider doing so.
I do, however, have plans to run down to the Apple store and take one for a test drive as soon as the initial wave of customers ebbs. Like, as soon as. I only live five minutes away from mine, so it easy enough to keep checking in to see when the path is relatively clear.
I'm very excited to see how it's going to function. The only thing equal to my excitement is my annoyance at everyone who has either decided the iPhone is gadget salvation, or has already dismissed it as useless to them. No one has any place to be talking about the iPhone in real-world terms at all. It's not even out yet. There's no way anyone knows anything about what iPhone is truly about. and no one will, until it's actually in hand. Chances are it's not going to be either a miracle or a failure, but instead a worthwhile experiment.
As far as I'm seen, the extreme pro and con iPhone positions seem to align more with their owners' previously established pro and con Mac prejudices - often similarly formed with lack of real experience and information - than it does with anything about the device itself. Anti-Apple people think it's stupid. Apple fans are chomping at the bit. It's a debate about as frustrating and productive as two-party politics.
Discussing what the iPhone is potentially capable of, however - that's a fascinating topic to me. Because the hype about the iPhone is not about a new phone. A lot of its basic functionality is already implemented in current devices. The iPhone is not exciting because of what it does, but because of how it does it. Theoretically, of course. If it succeeds, the iPhone will take everyday human-computer interaction to a different level. And even if it doesn't succeed, the attempt will create new information, good and bad, that we can use for future attempts in the same field.
I've also realized, in the course of the iPhone uproar, what seems to be another key delineation between PC and Mac enthusiasts. PC people keep harping on the "point" of the iPhone, and that its features are either already available elsewhere (video, software integration), or problematic (touch-screen interface). But to many Mac people, none of that is the point. The point of the iPhone to many, myself included, is that it's exploring new ways to do things. The touch interface, the iPod integration, the flow between different applications, all wrapped up in a sleek, shiny package - it's not about meeting bottom-line mass needs. It's about looking ahead to something new.
That something new may not work exactly as planned. It may not work as well as something similar that already exists. But why not take a shot at it anyway? That's the entire reason I love and participate in the technology field in the first place. Progress. You don't make any if you settle for the old ways of doing things. Everything's at least worth trying. Including the iPhone. So let's reserve our judgment, test it out, and see what we can learn.