Hype or no hype on the iPhone

First of all my apologies to any who are having trouble with my RSS feed.  I'm working to resolve the problem, but so far it's hard to tell if the problem is with TypePad or Feedburner.

I just saw an article in USA Today about the iPhone.  The article, "Apple's iPhone is pretty ordinary at its core," is by Andrew Kantor.  Andrew actually brought up some points that I think have some validity like the camera only being two megapixels and the challenges of Cingular's network.  It doesn't hurt to have a critical look to try get beyond the hype.

With that comment you should factor in that I'm looking at it from the perspective of someone who wants good reasons not to buy the iPhone.  Still there is something in the tone of Mr. Kantor's piece that bugs me a little, but maybe that comes from one "know-it-all" trying to deal with the thoughts of another "know-it-all" :)

Still I am not surprised at the less than positive Apple thoughts in the USA Today piece since this isn't the first "Apple" article of his which has gotten me stirred up.

I even went to bat for Apple after reading his article, "Computer battlefield" published a little over two years ago.  It was one of the most off base articles I have ever seen.  It was pretty clearly structured not to give a good comparison and was wrong in many facts.  My rebuttal, "Computer Battle," was one of first posts and came before I even started doing Applepeels.

I tried to get some of the worst facts corrected but I ended up being labeled a Mac fanatic.  I'm sure that's hard to understand for most of the folks who believe I wield a pretty sharp ax on Apple myself.

Time and the market generally settle these kinds of arguments.  The likely truth about the iPhone lies somewhere between the folks who have genuinely fallen under its spell and the folks like Andrew Kantor who are challenged to like anything that Apple will ever produce though he nows seems to at least appreciate the interface.  I wonder what he thinks of Vista?

Before reviewing Vista and comparing it to  Mac OSX, each tech pundit needs to think about this comment in a recent Information Week article, "Mac OS X Shines In Comparison With Windows Vista."

For Mac OS X, it's the classic English butler. This OS is designed to make the times you have to interact with it as quick and efficient as possible. It expects that things will work correctly, and therefore sees no reason to bother you with correct operation confirmations...

Windows is very eager to tell you what's going on. Constantly. Plug something in, and you get a message. Unplug something and you get a message. If you're on a network that's having problems staying up, you'll get tons of messages telling you this. It's rather like dealing with an overexcited Boy Scout...who has a lifetime supply of chocolate-covered espresso beans.

Though I have not tried Vista, I'm pretty irritated already with the implementation of the pop-up blocker in IE7.  It's annoying.  If Vista is headed down that path, even Andrew Kantor might not like it.

I have often wondered what would happen if you transplant someone like Mr. Kantor to an Apple hot spot like the Tyson's Corner Apple Store or Cupertino itself?  Would the closeness to the Apple brand or the band of true believers immediately give him a more kindly view of Apple products?  I certainly bring more than my share of Apple prejudices to the table so I'm not trying to give Mr. Kantor a hard time.  After all it's hard to be swayed by the Mac living in our beautiful, but Apple technology isolated valley.

Living on the edges of the Apple world (either in Roanoke, Va or coastal North Carolina) is a little bit of a challenge even for Mac lovers.  An interesting perspective on this comes from a post that was sent to a mailing list from our local users group.  The post, "Mac vs. PC," by Charles Cullen is somewhat off the wall, but in the end you get the feeling that Apple does need to do a lot better in the hinterlands if more people and even some like Charles are going to be converted.

Just having a place to see the products is huge.  Everyone in the Roanoke Valley is glad to have a place like Computer Pros.  It took a long time for this area to get the luxury of Mac product availability and authorized service.

I am still amazed the great benefit that can come to the largely unappreciative mothership of Apple from one dedicated Apple reseller.  The goodwill and knowledge that a local reseller spreads is considerable.  There are boat loads of PCs at the big box stores but in our three hours from anywhere somewhat rural area finding a Mac to look at is still hard.

The opening of an Apple reseller store in Mt. Airy, NC brought the importance of local brand representation home to me. I wrote about Mark Spencer's CyberGear in "Mayberry gets an Apple Store."

I had a chance to visit with Mark in his Mount Airy, NC (Mayberry) store just after Christmas.  I was floored at the Apple success that he has created in a town which is a long way off the list of digital hot spots.  Apple should send him an award for the progress he has made in a largely PC town.   I wish Mr. Kantor had time to sit down with Mark.  Mark's passion for the product would sway almost anyone.

Yet I don't know of any Apple resellers getting rich, most of them do it because they love the product and enjoying converting others to the Mac.

Even the Apple specialists that I know feel that there are plenty of challenges in doing business with Apple. 

I wonder if Apple still believes in the value of local resellers who can often change the perception someone has of the Mac by spending just a few minutes showing how to use a Mac? 

They should.

All the world can't get to an Apple owned Apple Store.

Comments

[pauldwaite]

The iPhone doesn't *do* anything that other phones don't or couldn't, but neither did the iPod. What the iPhone does appear to do is do them in a much, much nicer way. By nicer, I mean:

a. genuinely, quantitively easier, i.e. faster and with less thought or room for error

b. more fun, more pleasurable

Those factors, together with marketing and coolness (which I think we can agree are there so far with the iPhone), sold over 50 million iPods. If they sell 10 million iPhones in the next two years, that's well over 5 billion dollars in revenue for Apple.

[Tom]

Apple hates VARs:

1. They capture profit margins that Apple thinks ought to be theirs
2. Cupertino can't control what they do or what they say
3. Cupertino can't effectively control their prices
4. They tend to fix stuff that Apple would rather have replaced with new - from Apple

In other words, the control mentality of Apple is at odds with a bunch of independent business people just trying to do what it takes to make a living. That's why Apple has treated the VAR channel so badly, especially since Steve Jobs came back.

[Andrew Kantor]

"Though I have not tried Vista, I'm pretty irritated already with the implementation of the pop-up blocker in IE7. It's annoying. If Vista is headed down that path, even Andrew Kantor might not like it."

Did you check this out:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/andrewkantor/2006-11-22-ie7-office2007_x.htm
?

And as for "I even went to bat for Apple after reading his article, "Computer battlefield" published a little over two years ago. It was one of the most off base articles I have ever seen. It was pretty clearly structured not to give a good comparison and was wrong in many facts."

I showed the completed piece to several Mac users to be sure I was being fair. Every one said not only was it fair, it tended to be pro-Apple.

Methinks you might be looking for something to complain about! ;-)

[broken reseller]

as a former reseller with 15 years of faithful Apple service, I can confirm that there are dozens of ways in which Apple keeps resellers from financial success.

Generally speaking, you can only sell a resellership to another reseller, and if you judge the business in pure business terms, your accountant will run away screaming. Get big or perish.

We were forced into bankruptcy in December when the company was making a profit (yes we had overdue money, but only to the fruit company) and things were really looking up. It appears that a change of credit rules was non negotiable, and bye bye 15 years and a multi million $ company.

We made plenty of mistakes that I am solely responsible for, but the short sighted policies make me want to write a book!

[troutstudio]

You put your finger right on the mark with your comments on Vista (which I believe are just as applicable to Windows et al). Sometimes, after a hard week as a network engineer, my wife will catch me massaging my right hand as I sit comatose in front of the TV. "Lots of Windows this week?" she will ask. Yes. Lot's of clicking endless stupid boxes about this and that which I don't want to know about. "Oh, don't you know that you can turn all that off" you say. Why not do it in Redmond and SHUT THE @!##$ UP!