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iPhone Hype

I’m going to start this column with a question (which is not really how I like to do things, but we all need a little change now and again), why is the iPhone such a big deal? Ahhh, I can already hear the shouting that’s going on in the brains of so many. “It’s the greatest thing since sliced bread…Steve Jobs is a genius…It’s going to revolutionize the way we communicate…I can watch movies on it…”blah, blah, blah ad nauseum.


Culture Of Excess

Now, to be fair, I have nothing against Apple (although I do have grudges with certain Apple fanboy users), nor against Mr. Jobs, nor the iPhone for that matter. What I don’t get is why so many people the world over are completely and utterly obsessed with what is essentially an over-priced phone on steroids (HGH to be specific). I do not own an iPhone (although I have many friends that either have an iPhone or want one), I do not own a single product made by Apple (not counting QuickTime). It’s not because they don’t make great products, they do, they make wonderful things, wonderfully expensive things.

My friend Dan Patterson (who lives in Brooklyn, NY) shot some footage of the line in front of the Apple store in Manhattan today, the line was about two city blocks long, and some of those people had been there for nearly a week, an entire week. What the hell people? Is a 3G phone really worth camping out for a week to buy, especially when there will be a new version of the damn thing in less than 2 years? What’s more, given that around 95% of the population of this country has no need for the functionality it possesses, is it really an amazing innovation?

Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, Henry Ford the automobile, Otto Rohwedder gave us sliced bread. These were true innovations, these things were invented for the masses, not the techno-elite. The iPhone (cool as it is), is not going to revolutionize squat, sorry Apple fanboy. Steve Jobs is a brilliant businessman, there is no denying that. He has managed to turn Apple into a lifestyle brand, which is something that no other techno-baron has been able to accomplish. No one is truly attached to Microsoft as a brand, nor to Sony, Samsung, Toshiba, etc… But Apple people, they live that brand. What I don’t understand is why they allow themselves to be continually jobbed (pun totally intended) by Apple.

The new iPhone has a nicer camera, gps, and is 3G compatible, skippy. So for just $200 Apple has delivered all of the things that should have been in the first version of the iPhone. It’s funny to me that my little LG VX9400 (while not as visually stimulating as the iPhone, nor as expensive) has a 2 megapixel camera, 3G mobile web, GPS, expandable storage and many other great features that the iPhone flaunts, yet no one lined up for it. Okay, it doesn’t have a touch screen, nor does it surf the “actual web”, just mobile sites, but I can do almost everything an iPhone owner can, and have been able to do so for nearly two years now, and to be honest, most of the people I know have the free phone that came with their plan. Oh, and I’m not stuck with AT&T as my service provider.

I guess that the beauty of the iPhone is truly in the eye of the beholder, but what it all comes down to is money, and the iPhone 3G is certainly going to make Jobs & Co. a ton of cash. I hope that it’s worth the $200 that could be going to something slightly more useful, but hey, America is culture of excess, so live it up, spend all that cash, that is after all exactly what the Apple establishment wants you to do. Justin Long may look cooler than John Hodgman, but the people they represent have exactly the same goals, to get as much of your money as possible.

Now, let the calls of Apple-hater begin, it’s okay, I know it’s not true, so I can take it.

Greg Hollingsworth is a marketer and blogger who also writes about politics on Devil’s In The Details.

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