Another iPhone perspective

You actually can go home again if your home ends up being a Bed & Breakfast like our former home, Sobotta Manor.  This past weekend, we were in Mount Airy, NC for the wedding our nephew.

We sold the home in 2004 and have become friends with the new owners.  Robin, one of the owners, actually called me for computer advice when Mount Airy (Mayberry) got its own privately owned Apple Store.

She was interested in a new MacBook.  I encouraged her to get one, and she did.  So I was only mildly surprised when she started talking about her new iPhone after we finished moving our bags to our rooms.

What did surprise me was her statement that the iPhone was the first product to deliver 200% of what she expected from the product.  After all one of my very technical friends had just explained why he hated his iPhone.

Robin absolutely loves the iPhone voice mail and how easy it is to respond.  In fact as far as I can tell she loves everything about the iPhone.

I got my next surprise when I asked her how she was doing with her MacBook.  She told me that she had given it to her daughter since she just couldn't master the differences in the operating system.

That started me worrying that I had not heard from Bill, the Windows user whom I helped make a decision to move over to the Mac.

So I wrote Bill a note and asked him how he was doing with his new MacBook, which is what he eventually decided to buy.  This is the response that I got back.

Hi, David!  It's great to hear from you.  You're back on Pine Street, eh?  I remember a lot of laughs we had there; shooting pool downstairs and talking with your dad in the parlor.  I remember we made a of visits to the drive-in burger joint up on the highway - can't remember its name but definitely remember the good food.

I LOVE the MacBook.  I'm a definite convert....

It is WONDERFUL to turn on the MacBook and not have to go through the gymnastics of two or more anti-virus and malware and spyware updates.  I love it.  I even thought about trying an iPhone but I'd never use more than 10% of its capabilities.

It is hard to draw much of any conclusion from these two very different data points.

I still believe MacOS X (outside of the iPhone) will not make much progress unless it ends up on hardware besides Apple's.  Too many people have been driving far too long on the right side of the road to switch to the Mac's left hand drive.

I am also convinced that the iPhone revolution is going to be more like the graphical user interface revolution than the coming of the next iPod.

I think the iPhone will eventually benefit all of us just as the original Mac user interface changed computing as we know it.

That doesn't change the fact that Apple will continue to do well as long as Steve is around.   They will make lots of money off the iPhone, but it might not be as big as some are predicting.

I didn't see anything in the iPhone that made me want to rush out and get one.  The screen seems to get dirty very easily, and getting the iPhone do some of its tricks isn't quite as easy as some have made out. 

There will be people who can't live without them and people who can't stand to have them.

That is the way of the personalized product cornucopia that we face in this century.

Still the iPhone is a great advance in phone technology, and I am sure Apple will do well with it, and other phone companies will steal the essence of the Apple ideas as quickly as possible.  That has happened before.

Stealing the technology didn't work with the iPod but it might just work with the iPhone, time will tell, and it will be fun see how it shapes up.

Comments

[Adam]

This has been my problem with most of the reviews out there that are so critical of the iPhone. They are from power users, people who unless they have 100% complete control, are never happy with what they are doing with the device/computer.

But I have a feeling the typical user will be 85% happy with the iPhone. Compared to most people hate their cell phones.

[Jeet]

Your statement "Too many people have been driving far too long on the right side of the road to switch to the Mac's left hand drive." is incorrect.

People always drive left hand drive vehicles on the right side of the road. And they drive right hand driver vehicles on the left side of the road :-)

[ocracokewaves]

I should have referred to my own post.

http://viewfromthemountain.typepad.com/applepeels/2005/06/apple_driving_o.html