… but this column ironically demonstrates how well Apple’s hype machine works. They’ve tied their products to popular culture in a way that no company before them has managed. I think Dvorak sums it up when he says “Hitler got less coverage when he invaded Poland.”
The column itself is just a railing diatribe, sadly - even Apple-haters should admit that much. I’ve got reservations about the iPhone myself - I don’t know that I’m going to get one because I don’t know that I personally need so many functions in a “phone” - but all this guy does is fill the page with spit and vitriol. It’s one thing to say a phone is useless, and another to say you’re going to slap people who like it.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 26th, 2007 at 12:21 pm and is filed under Rant. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Saddly there a few to many of thez people today.
This Whole Culture needs to step back and take a look at its Manners.
I’m not surprised, Dvorak writes a lot of crap, mostly bashing Apple. I have been told he likes to stir shit up.
still, I have noticed that there IS alot of hype about the phone and I would imagine that it would get old after awhile, especially if the person doesn’t have that kind of money to spend on a phone.
People need to stop blogging about it. For example, the people over at TUAW will not shut up about the iphone.
oh look someone is talking about the iPhone…get over it.
It can fall from grace so hard it leaves an imprint on the pavement, or it’s a good product you might buy someday. either way sit back and watch the fireworks.
Hm, personally I’m not so hyped about the Iphone myself. I mean, you can only do so much with one piece of hardware, and when you attempt too much, it’s your own downfall. The PSP’s complete failure in the gaming and movies market showed that.
I mean, sure, you can browse the net, but everyone will agree that going on the internet is far more convenient on anything but a phone. Also, not everyone is rich enough to use $50 bills to wipe their butt, so that’s a bit of an obstacle as well.
Yes, despite the high musical pedigree of his name, Dvorak is generally just an attention whore. I’ve got to disagree with Ananth’s read on the article though. I don’t see anywhere in there that he is saying he hates the iphone. What he hates is the obscene marketing blitz that has come out in the recent weeks. Praises and accolades are being tossed about willy-nilly over this device by people that have never touched or even seen one in person. Basically every bit of iphone coverage I’ve seen or read has been nothing more than a regurgitation of Apple’s press releases. An awful lot of people in the media (internet and old-school alike) seem to have partaken of the kool-aide this time and it is a wee bit irritating, I have to agree with him. When someone has actual news to publish get back to me, if you’re just giving Apple free advertising thanks I’ll pass. You do have to hand it to Jobs, he turned the Cult out in force this time and he is the maestro of media manipulation. Maybe he should run for president after all, it’d be a pay cut but he’d convince the rest of the planet to like us again.
In the interest of disclosure, I won’t be buying one. I need a phone to make phone calls, text messaging is a plus (and I’m not sold on texting with that touch screen). I do not need my phone to take pictures I have a very nice camera for that. I do not need my phone to browse the web, I have several, much larger and faster computers for that. I do not need my phone to carry half my cds with me at all times, I have an mp3 player for that and it even has that new fangled radio technology built in (sue me, I’m an NPR junkie). Besides the iphone looks way to big to strap to my arm when I go running or to the gym.
To anyone who’s seen Dvorak’s bullshit articles before this isn’t surprising at all. I mean the guy has openly admitted on camera to baiting the apple community for hits to his columns.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=SAWDYaWAVQQ
That’s pure crap for ya.
But really though…
Pretty soon there’s gonna be the iHouse, the iCar, the iToaster, and the iDildo.
Too late, the iDildo is already here. Check it out:
http://www.ohmibod.com/
Also, I recall someone making an “iToaster” several years ago, and the iCar is already here: the Toyota Prius (Yeah, I’m a Prius fanboy).
I for one will not get an iPhone. Not because I hate Apple (got two Macs) or its influence on popular culture (I see iPod people everywhere), it just that I think a phone should be a phone that does being a phone very well. If they drop the price a bit, that might be a different story. :P
I’m a huge apple fan, but public enemy are still right: don’t believe the hype!
I’d have to agree with Zoolon and Phen.
And honestly, I don’t think the iPhone is all that. For anyone who knows anything about cell phones, or smatphones in particular, you realize there are a number of problems with this device:
1)It is way to expensive. $600 devices are usually restricted to the enterprise market, and even that is not very common, since the price is usually subsidized. And since this device doesn’t have much appeal to enterprise users, it will probably fail. The main reason most phones are even near affordable (i.e. around $100 or less) is because the cellular providers subsidizes the cost (as mentioned above), and in this case, Apple won’t let them, so everyone has to pay full cost.
2)If you’ve ever looked at cellular service costs, cellular internet (especially that offered by AT&T) is really expensive, with not much offered. Your monthly bill (on top of that $600 up front) will probably be $80 a month, and only get a limited bandwidth with that (that’s the way AT&T works; I should know, I use them).
3)The device is rather large for a cellphone, which (at least in my opinion) is uncomfortable, and irritating since it doesn’t fit in you pocket very well.
I love the i phone…..Slap me now, Slap me now!!!!!! if the iphone hates like giving pain good thing i like getting it :P ;)
It’s a neat idea, but until its out and I can see how well it’ll work for me, I don’t care about it. I’m mostly concerned with how well it crosses between PCs and Macs.
just thaoyght it was funny that in the adversiting space was the zune add.
just a little humor to start the day.
If you read the piece carefully you’ll note he’s not bashing the iphone so much as ridiculing the hype surrounding it. Something that’s entirely valid, if you ask me.
Exactly. It’s no secret that Dvorak dislikes the iPhone but the piece is more about the hype. I can’t listen to a tech podcast without 1/3 of it being decoted to the iPhone in some way.It gets old. I’m intrigued by the product. Looking at the raw data released I can see things that are deal breakers, things I like and things I’m on the fence about. Dvorak’s railing is mainly against those people that just won’t shut up about it and dismiss valid concerns about the product out of hand.
I’m not so sure this guy hates the iPhone so much as he hates the hype machine behind Apple’s marketing. I, personally, have no opinion one way or the other about the iPhone. But I’ll say this: I’m tired of being told how much I should love it. Much like the iPod, (They’re mp3 players, people! Not every mp3 player is an iPod) and the Mac commercials, I am tired of being told how I should feel and what I should think about an expensive piece of technology. iPhone won’t change the world. It’s a damned communications device, not the first one. It’s not as if the thing sprang fully formed from Alexander Graham Bell’s head and we’ve just been refining the communications infrastructure to accomodate it for a hundred plus years. It’s an expensive piece of technology. A toy. Albeit a highly capable and interesting toy, it is still a toy. let me play with it, or not, at my leisure. Then let me decide whether or not I like it.
When the group makes the choices for the individual, the individual is diminished.
Am I wrong for thinking that apple should be trying to use this much hype on it’s computers?
Hrm… everyone keeps blabbering about “I just need a phone.” A lot of the arguments people have been using against the iPhone in recent weeks have been eerily reminiscent of all the iPod bashers back in the day.
I may just be out of touch, but it’s not the phone thats going to change the world, it’s having the web at your finger tip 24×7 on a reasonably quick device. When people get their heads around that concept they’ll forget that it does the Phone thing too.
While I don’t even know anything about the iPhone (been stuck overseas for 3 years…i’m behind the times) I do know what a guy who dislikes Apple acts like. That guy dislikes Apple and everyone who likes them. He even ridicules another writer for using the phrase “insanely easy”. I hate to break it to him but I’ve used that in a staff meeting before and everyone knew exactly what I meant. Its a lot less insulting than telling your sister service something is “army proof”.
I do have to be honest, the only Apple product I own is an iPod nano but I seriously love the thing in the way a walkman and discman never were able to swing me. I know its really just an MP3 player, but really Itunes takes it to a whole other level in my opinion. I don’t see how the iPhone can make the same dent iPod’s had on the MP3 player market. They have to really revolutionize interfacing, storage, and ease of use in a major way like the iPod/iTunes.
I think most people missed his point: the hype is ‘insanely’ stupid; Not ‘The iPhone sucks’. His only bent towards that is that it’s expensive for a phone. And hhis point is valid, no matter how much people may not like him. Considering no one has been allowed to USE the damn thing, any ‘news’ articles about it at this point are just a waste of everyone’s time
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