I have been following some reviews, impressions and "fondles" of the iPhone that are appearing every few minutes on the web and it leads me to wonder how many of those 500,000+ phones sold over the weekend will be returned due to "iPhone remorse"? Quite a few people are running into the shortcomings of the iPhone and are letting us know how they feel about them.
Follow the link for a round-up of less favorable impressions of the iPhone.
Is this the result of too much hype, over-picky consumers, a failure to deliver on Apple's part, or selection bias of reviews on the part of Kendrik? Probably a mixture of all of the above.
Kendrik's readers and reviewers tend to be more "techie" than the general population and I'm not surprised they will find some aspects of the iPhone less favorable. The real question that the iPhone's success hinges on is how well received it is by the median consumer? The beauty of the iPod was its simplicity and overall design/experience. I expect the iPhone to succeed/fail on similar grounds.
So far, 208 reviewers rate the iPhone 6.7 out 10 on cNet. That's not doing as well as I would have expected...
I hope to get in to an Apple Store soon to check one out for myself. I've been cautiously optimistic about it prior to the release. My general impression so far is that it is a neat piece of technology, but not as earth-shattering as many (including me) were hoping for.
P.S. -- Joe Hutsko of MSNBC had an iPhone that broke after only four days...
3 comments:
wow...one person had one unit that broke after 4 days...I would have been surprised had something like that not happened to someone.
These anecdotes are simply that: anecdotes. They mean nothing: see Taleb's books The Black Swan or Fooled by Randomness. One can just as easily find comments by iPhone users that are glowing.
As for the remarks on the jkontherun site: they lost me when a few commenters preferred a Windows Mobile device to the iPhone. Windows Mobile is probably the least user friendly OS on a mobile out there. If these people want it, that's great, but their tastes are not aligned with mine, and I'm willing to bet, those of most people. I bet these people prefer the Zune over the iPod.
This criticism reminds me of the same criticisms you can find regarding the iPod: sure there are other mp3 players out there that are more fully featured, and using the same logic, these should be preferred. But taking into account usability and elegance, the iPod wins out hands down. The iPhone will as well.
Is it perfect? Of course not, but neither was the first iPod, neither is any device. But it does so many things so well, that other devices don't even come close in terms of offering a unique user experience.
Let's see how these criticisms mirror those of the iPod:
Many complain about a lack of some features, as if a device was to be judged by a laundry list of features on a website. Of course that doesn't take into account usability, elegance, or integration of features.
By the same reasoning, the iPod is not the most fully featured mp3 player. In fact, the Zune has more features; I guess that makes it the better device, even though it is a real dog and is lucky to capture 1% of the market.
Then there's the complaint about the lack of a removable battery. Wow...that's been used a million times against the iPod. I guess that really killed the iPod sales.
While others experience may differ, I have rarely changed batteries in mobile phones over the last 10 years or so. Most batteries are good enough to last a few days, and many people charge their battery every night anyway.
So sure the lack of a removable battery will inconvenience some, but it will not be a deal killer to most, just like it isn't with the iPod.
Will the iPhone be for everyone? Of course not, but for many it will be a totally awesome experience. For the entire industry, it will force innovation, and that is a good thing no matter what.
To me the iPhone is like the first Mac computer. It's not perfect, but it's almost a magical experience using it compared to the other devices out there.
The first Mac in 84 was not a perfect machine; other PC's could do functions this one could not; some critics noted with disdain the list of functions this Mac did not have.
It was also high priced, and there was a lack of software available compared to the IBM DOS PC's.
Yet compared to the other machines, the first Mac was, well, magical in its experience. One instinctively knew that this would change the way people thought about computers, and sure enough, eventually everyone had converted over to the Mac way of doing things: the GUI, the mouse, etc.
The iPhone is the same; it's not complete, it's expensive, it lacks some functionality that other devices have. Yet the device breaks new ground in interface design and integration, and it will change the way future devices are made. One has that same feeling of glimpsing the inevitable future as one did with the Mac in 84.
Just like with the original Mac, in just a few years we will look back at the first iPhone as something primitive. But what we have at that point will be a direct offshoot of many of the ideas put forward in the iPhone, and the world of technology will be changed forever.
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