5 ms·

Thoughts and Observations Regarding Yesterday’s iPhone 5 and Music Event

29 points by kristianc 14y ago

cageface 14y ago
And what shows they were. When Schiller unveiled the iPhone 5, it rose from the stage floor on a smoothly-rising and rotating pedestal, pinpoint spotlights hitting the phone and only the phone. The rotation of the iPhone atop the pedestal was in perfect sync with the rotation of the iPhone projected on the big screen at the back of the stage. There’s no store where you buy such pedestals; Apple designed and engineered it specifically for this event. It was on stage for about a minute. I think I may actually be physically sick from reading this. There's just no room to satirize something this ridiculous. For Apple to maintain its market-leading brand prestige and profit margins it has to be hands-down better than the competition and no matter how much heavy breathing hype you want to shower on them the last two iPhones have been predictable, incremental upgrades that in some important ways are actually playing catch-up to the competition. Good, but not good enough. Steve's most successful keynotes were noticeably devoid of this kind of Las Vegas showroom trickery.
- thewarrior 14y ago
  But none of that stopped the iPhone 4S from setting new sales records . The competition has caught up , Apple definitely has interesting things in the pipeline . They only release them once they have been perfected . The masses don't mind anyway . So theyre just playing it safe.
  - cageface 14y ago
    For now, Apple has the reputation and the following to guarantee the success of any phone they release. But the record sales of the 4S weren't enough to reverse their slide WRT Android and that's really what they need to be worried about. If they become a niche market again, no matter how lucrative, they lose their power.
    - rimantas 14y ago
      > If they become a niche market again, no matter how > lucrative, they lose their power. But they keep the money. And you think money gives no power? Interesting world you are living in. Btw, to expect single model of the phone to outsell the all the models of Android… well…
- mladenkovacevic 14y ago
  I'm usually pretty cynical and nauseated by these kinds of write-ups too but this time I'm going to refrain. If I made the kind of money Gruber does by staying in his pajamas all day and typing snarky one-liners on his iPad, I'd probably will myself into singing Hallelujah every time Apple released a major product too. The man's gotta make make a living, and he's figured out that being the cult elder makes for a pretty damn good living.
  - panacea 14y ago
    "but this time I'm going to refrain" Refrain from what? Damning him with faint praise and labelling him a cult elder seems pretty cynical to me.
- rimantas 14y ago
  > iPhones have been predictable, incremental upgrades So Samsung Galaxy SIII was amazingly revolutionary compared to Galaxy SII? > that in some important ways are actually playing catch-up > to the competition. Good, but not good enough. Oh, believe me, it is more than good enough. Of course you can choose some line for the spec sheet and proclaim that Apple is over, but in that case you are jus missing forest for the tree.
  - cageface 14y ago
    So Samsung Galaxy SIII was amazingly revolutionary compared to Galaxy SII? Actually, the combination of new hardware + ICS was really a huge step forward and the first phone I'd really consider an overal better phone than the iPhone. And thanks to the diversity of the Android ecosystem we also have things like the note or the 7" tablets to choose from today. If Apple wants to play one-size-fits-all then that size has to be in a different class.
    - ghshephard 14y ago
      The Samsung Galaxy SIII is the first phone that has got our died-in-the-wool-celebrate-apple-fanatic's attention. Honest to goodness direct quote from a recent convert to the SIII, "Dude, I thought I was trying the real stuff before, but this things like Heroin!" I personally think that the big screen, and ICSs speed is pretty damn attractive - but I don't know how it would fit into my life over a year. Regardless - Samsung now has a slight lead when it comes to overall mobile performance (Screen/CPU) - Apple has the lead in App Ecosystem and (in my opinion) - design tweaks. They do sweat the pixels a bit more than Samsung.
  - saket123 14y ago
    Yes. I have a SG2 and couple of people in my office has SG3. Let me tell you revolutionary features which my phone (SG2) does not have - eye following tech (staying awake when you are looking at phone), pick to call , automatic photo tagging (face recognition), wireless charging, NFC, techtiles, bigger better screen, bigger battery, best photo (taking 15-20 photos in burst and telling me the best one), pop up play (playing video in small area of screen while I keep using my phone), smart alerts (telling me that if I had existing alert from person I am trying to contact)
- vvhn 14y ago
  >Steve's most successful keynotes were noticeably devoid of this kind of Las Vegas showroom trickery Uhh what ? How many Steve Jobs keynotes have you seen ? Most of them had these idiotic things. The one most ridiculous moment which instantly comes to mind is the Intel CEO appearing in that suit. You know Intel chips that every otehr laptop manufacturer made but the move was made a bigger show of ? "This would never have happened under Steve Jobs" is not the same as "I don't like this". Steve Jobs is gone, Apple will not be the same but is not doomed without him either. His single biggest accomplishment was having left in the state that it can continue without him.
  - jpxxx 14y ago
    Seriously. How many draped cloth reveals were there? How about the Air slipping out of an envelope? Or the nano from his pocket?
- jshen 14y ago
  Every nontech person I know wants incremental upgrades of the technology they use most.
- damian2000 14y ago
  Agreed, that paragraph was the ultimate in apple-fanboi fan fiction. Regarding Apple being better, I still think they have the edge on the apps front if not on the hardware front. Its also where the money is if you're a developer trying to make a living from developing apps.
- siglesias 14y ago
  No "showroom trickery"? I suggest you jump to minute 7 of this presentation. http://youtu.be/j_QtUH_zG4U http://youtu.be/j_QtUH_zG4U
- bitcartel 14y ago
  Such breathless writing, matched only by the official marketing department. "iPhone 5 is made with a level of precision you’d expect from a finely crafted watch — not a smartphone. Never before has this degree of fit and finish been applied to a phone... Look at iPhone 5 and you can’t help but notice the exquisite chamfer surrounding the display. A crystalline diamond cuts this beveled edge. It’s what gives iPhone 5 its distinctive lines. Fitting for a phone so brilliant." http://www.apple.com/iphone/design/ http://www.apple.com/iphone/design/
- pooriaazimi 14y ago
  I can think of at least 7 Steve Jobs keynotes that had the exact same "showroom trickery", starting from 1983 (the Macintosh) and the next time he announced a new product for apple (the iMac) in 1998. Other times include cinema displays, PowerBooks, power Macs, iBooks, MacBook, MacBook Air, and i think one iPod. If you want to compare something with some other thing, make sure you know what the second thing is.
ktizo 14y ago
Radio Friendly Unit Shifter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER5NG2i_5V4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER5NG2i_5V4
zmmmmm 14y ago
> Here’s the thing: it’s really light.... The glass of the 4/4S feels great, but it’s fragile and, compared to aluminum, heavy. I find it truly fascinating how magnificently Apple can spin anything it wants any way it wants and have people buy it. For years people have told me how their iPhone's were made of better quality materials and you could feel it in the weight. It was the sign of quality. It's awe inspiring to witness now how after spending so long as a sin, lightness has transformed in the space of 24 hours into a virtue.
- guelo 14y ago
  We've always been at war with Eastasia.
- bkorte 14y ago
  Shame on Apple for building something light. Why is it a bad thing that they've innovated to the point where they can get the level of quality they're happy with and lowering the weight?
  - mayanksinghal 14y ago
    I don't think that is what GP is commenting about. He is stating that previously one of the arguments for iPhone was that the weight was just right. Any less or any more would have destroyed the form factor. While I had not seen this argument with weight, I have seen it multiple times with Screen Size. And now that it has changed I am pretty damn sure that 4inch screen will not be the only form factor that is perfect and everything else will be 'not-for-the-masses'.
- untog 14y ago
  Also: Almost weirdly light, to my oh-so-utterly-accustomed-to-the-heft-of-the-iPhone-4(S) hands. I think the thing that bugs me is the tacit admission that he hasn't even tried any other devices. I own (although no longer use) a Samsung Focus S- a 4.3" Windows Phone. Weight? 110g. At this point the Focus S hardly a new phone- Apple was behind the times and is just catching up, it's not blazing ahead. But then, Gruber is only reviewing this for people that have already decided they want one, so the bar is lower.
bryanlarsen 14y ago
Gruber is essentially arguing that those criticizing Apple's choice of Lightning over microUSB are wrong because Lightning is better FOR APPLE than microUSB is. Of course Lightning is better for Apple. It's going to make them gobs of money. That doesn't make it better for the consumer than microUSB.
- jpxxx 14y ago
  I need you to do a thought experiment: It's yesterday. Apple has just announced that they are immediately moving to micro-USB on all of their iOS products. What does this mean for the existing ecosystem of 30-pin accessories and the customers who bought into it?
  - cageface 14y ago
    At least they could use any new accessories they have to buy with other gadgets instead of being locked into another expensive, proprietary Apple format.
    - jpxxx 14y ago
      Other gadgets? Like what? Describe this workflow. Plugging in to your Kindle PowerFast adapter that only fast-charges a Kindle? Plugging in to a PMP that that supports USB-MTP or USB-MSP, which Apple doesn't support at all? Plugging in a HDMI or VGA adapter? Wait... they don't have those for micro-USB. Reusing your PDMI gear? Ooops, those are only pin-compatible with 30-pin and haven't gotten any real traction. Plugging into a USB audio device? Oh wait, THAT STANDARD DOESN'T EXIST EITHER. So I'm begging you, tell me, my mind is OPEN on this: describe the benefit of Apple moving to micro-USB beyond "I can reuse my BlackBerry charger from 2005". I can't come up with enough pros for anyone, including the customer.
      - guelo 14y ago
        You would be able to buy a cable for $2 and share it with other phone users?
jpxxx 14y ago
I like this guy but this opinion piece has almost nothing going for it. What the tech-elite are upset about is that the iPhone is the product of -SAFE- design. They made safe design choices, safe technical choices, safe aesthetic choices, and paved over some platform disruptions that are going to stick in more than a few craws (new maps, new dock connectors, new advertisement rules, etc). There was no zing zap zowie twist, no manic panic streak, just safe iterations like thinner/faster/tighter/stronger. Think about it: there isn't one new sensor type, one new I/O type, one signature new datatype (save for possibly Passbook), nothing. The smartphone is becoming mature and the 8000 pound gorilla isn't willing to start zigging and zagging with the highest profile product in technology. People want to be wowed, and when all they got was a thorough refinement of what they had, they left disappointed. My mom is going to love the decisions Apple made regarding her iPhone 5. John X. Android won't. It doesn't matter though. This phone is going to sell tens of millions a month, be the safe #2 market seller, be the #1 money spinner, and stand for another year as the overall best. You want daring phones? You want risky phones? Look elsewhere.
- thewarrior 14y ago
  What happened to "Think Different" ?
  - jpxxx 14y ago
    "Think different" won them a dominant position in two colossal (and colossally important) markets that they're in the process of eviscerating to the consternation of all involved. I assure you they are in the process of "thinking different" about a number of new markets and form factors. For the ones that are gushing money? "Think Dominant"
    - ktizo 14y ago
      For the ones that are gushing money? "Think Dominant" Well, that goes fairly well with their 1984 commercial I suppose.
  - jrockway 14y ago

29 points by kristianc 14y ago

And what shows they were. When Schiller unveiled the iPhone 5, it rose from the stage floor on a smoothly-rising and rotating pedestal, pinpoint spotlights hitting the phone and only the phone. The rotation of the iPhone atop the pedestal was in perfect sync with the rotation of the iPhone projected on the big screen at the back of the stage. There’s no store where you buy such pedestals; Apple designed and engineered it specifically for this event. It was on stage for about a minute. I think I may actually be physically sick from reading this. There's just no room to satirize something this ridiculous. For Apple to maintain its market-leading brand prestige and profit margins it has to be hands-down better than the competition and no matter how much heavy breathing hype you want to shower on them the last two iPhones have been predictable, incremental upgrades that in some important ways are actually playing catch-up to the competition. Good, but not good enough. Steve's most successful keynotes were noticeably devoid of this kind of Las Vegas showroom trickery.

thewarrior 14y ago
But none of that stopped the iPhone 4S from setting new sales records . The competition has caught up , Apple definitely has interesting things in the pipeline . They only release them once they have been perfected . The masses don't mind anyway . So theyre just playing it safe.
- cageface 14y ago
  For now, Apple has the reputation and the following to guarantee the success of any phone they release. But the record sales of the 4S weren't enough to reverse their slide WRT Android and that's really what they need to be worried about. If they become a niche market again, no matter how lucrative, they lose their power.
  - rimantas 14y ago
    > If they become a niche market again, no matter how > lucrative, they lose their power. But they keep the money. And you think money gives no power? Interesting world you are living in. Btw, to expect single model of the phone to outsell the all the models of Android… well…
mladenkovacevic 14y ago
I'm usually pretty cynical and nauseated by these kinds of write-ups too but this time I'm going to refrain. If I made the kind of money Gruber does by staying in his pajamas all day and typing snarky one-liners on his iPad, I'd probably will myself into singing Hallelujah every time Apple released a major product too. The man's gotta make make a living, and he's figured out that being the cult elder makes for a pretty damn good living.
- panacea 14y ago
  "but this time I'm going to refrain" Refrain from what? Damning him with faint praise and labelling him a cult elder seems pretty cynical to me.
rimantas 14y ago
> iPhones have been predictable, incremental upgrades So Samsung Galaxy SIII was amazingly revolutionary compared to Galaxy SII? > that in some important ways are actually playing catch-up > to the competition. Good, but not good enough. Oh, believe me, it is more than good enough. Of course you can choose some line for the spec sheet and proclaim that Apple is over, but in that case you are jus missing forest for the tree.
- cageface 14y ago
  So Samsung Galaxy SIII was amazingly revolutionary compared to Galaxy SII? Actually, the combination of new hardware + ICS was really a huge step forward and the first phone I'd really consider an overal better phone than the iPhone. And thanks to the diversity of the Android ecosystem we also have things like the note or the 7" tablets to choose from today. If Apple wants to play one-size-fits-all then that size has to be in a different class.
  - ghshephard 14y ago
    The Samsung Galaxy SIII is the first phone that has got our died-in-the-wool-celebrate-apple-fanatic's attention. Honest to goodness direct quote from a recent convert to the SIII, "Dude, I thought I was trying the real stuff before, but this things like Heroin!" I personally think that the big screen, and ICSs speed is pretty damn attractive - but I don't know how it would fit into my life over a year. Regardless - Samsung now has a slight lead when it comes to overall mobile performance (Screen/CPU) - Apple has the lead in App Ecosystem and (in my opinion) - design tweaks. They do sweat the pixels a bit more than Samsung.
- saket123 14y ago
  Yes. I have a SG2 and couple of people in my office has SG3. Let me tell you revolutionary features which my phone (SG2) does not have - eye following tech (staying awake when you are looking at phone), pick to call , automatic photo tagging (face recognition), wireless charging, NFC, techtiles, bigger better screen, bigger battery, best photo (taking 15-20 photos in burst and telling me the best one), pop up play (playing video in small area of screen while I keep using my phone), smart alerts (telling me that if I had existing alert from person I am trying to contact)
vvhn 14y ago
>Steve's most successful keynotes were noticeably devoid of this kind of Las Vegas showroom trickery Uhh what ? How many Steve Jobs keynotes have you seen ? Most of them had these idiotic things. The one most ridiculous moment which instantly comes to mind is the Intel CEO appearing in that suit. You know Intel chips that every otehr laptop manufacturer made but the move was made a bigger show of ? "This would never have happened under Steve Jobs" is not the same as "I don't like this". Steve Jobs is gone, Apple will not be the same but is not doomed without him either. His single biggest accomplishment was having left in the state that it can continue without him.
- jpxxx 14y ago
  Seriously. How many draped cloth reveals were there? How about the Air slipping out of an envelope? Or the nano from his pocket?
jshen 14y ago
Every nontech person I know wants incremental upgrades of the technology they use most.
damian2000 14y ago
Agreed, that paragraph was the ultimate in apple-fanboi fan fiction. Regarding Apple being better, I still think they have the edge on the apps front if not on the hardware front. Its also where the money is if you're a developer trying to make a living from developing apps.
siglesias 14y ago
No "showroom trickery"? I suggest you jump to minute 7 of this presentation. http://youtu.be/j_QtUH_zG4U http://youtu.be/j_QtUH_zG4U
bitcartel 14y ago
Such breathless writing, matched only by the official marketing department. "iPhone 5 is made with a level of precision you’d expect from a finely crafted watch — not a smartphone. Never before has this degree of fit and finish been applied to a phone... Look at iPhone 5 and you can’t help but notice the exquisite chamfer surrounding the display. A crystalline diamond cuts this beveled edge. It’s what gives iPhone 5 its distinctive lines. Fitting for a phone so brilliant." http://www.apple.com/iphone/design/ http://www.apple.com/iphone/design/
pooriaazimi 14y ago
I can think of at least 7 Steve Jobs keynotes that had the exact same "showroom trickery", starting from 1983 (the Macintosh) and the next time he announced a new product for apple (the iMac) in 1998. Other times include cinema displays, PowerBooks, power Macs, iBooks, MacBook, MacBook Air, and i think one iPod. If you want to compare something with some other thing, make sure you know what the second thing is.

ktizo 14y ago

Radio Friendly Unit Shifter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER5NG2i_5V4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER5NG2i_5V4

zmmmmm 14y ago

> Here’s the thing: it’s really light.... The glass of the 4/4S feels great, but it’s fragile and, compared to aluminum, heavy. I find it truly fascinating how magnificently Apple can spin anything it wants any way it wants and have people buy it. For years people have told me how their iPhone's were made of better quality materials and you could feel it in the weight. It was the sign of quality. It's awe inspiring to witness now how after spending so long as a sin, lightness has transformed in the space of 24 hours into a virtue.

guelo 14y ago
We've always been at war with Eastasia.
bkorte 14y ago
Shame on Apple for building something light. Why is it a bad thing that they've innovated to the point where they can get the level of quality they're happy with and lowering the weight?
- mayanksinghal 14y ago
  I don't think that is what GP is commenting about. He is stating that previously one of the arguments for iPhone was that the weight was just right. Any less or any more would have destroyed the form factor. While I had not seen this argument with weight, I have seen it multiple times with Screen Size. And now that it has changed I am pretty damn sure that 4inch screen will not be the only form factor that is perfect and everything else will be 'not-for-the-masses'.
untog 14y ago
Also: Almost weirdly light, to my oh-so-utterly-accustomed-to-the-heft-of-the-iPhone-4(S) hands. I think the thing that bugs me is the tacit admission that he hasn't even tried any other devices. I own (although no longer use) a Samsung Focus S- a 4.3" Windows Phone. Weight? 110g. At this point the Focus S hardly a new phone- Apple was behind the times and is just catching up, it's not blazing ahead. But then, Gruber is only reviewing this for people that have already decided they want one, so the bar is lower.

bryanlarsen 14y ago

Gruber is essentially arguing that those criticizing Apple's choice of Lightning over microUSB are wrong because Lightning is better FOR APPLE than microUSB is. Of course Lightning is better for Apple. It's going to make them gobs of money. That doesn't make it better for the consumer than microUSB.

jpxxx 14y ago
I need you to do a thought experiment: It's yesterday. Apple has just announced that they are immediately moving to micro-USB on all of their iOS products. What does this mean for the existing ecosystem of 30-pin accessories and the customers who bought into it?
- cageface 14y ago
  At least they could use any new accessories they have to buy with other gadgets instead of being locked into another expensive, proprietary Apple format.
  - jpxxx 14y ago
    Other gadgets? Like what? Describe this workflow. Plugging in to your Kindle PowerFast adapter that only fast-charges a Kindle? Plugging in to a PMP that that supports USB-MTP or USB-MSP, which Apple doesn't support at all? Plugging in a HDMI or VGA adapter? Wait... they don't have those for micro-USB. Reusing your PDMI gear? Ooops, those are only pin-compatible with 30-pin and haven't gotten any real traction. Plugging into a USB audio device? Oh wait, THAT STANDARD DOESN'T EXIST EITHER. So I'm begging you, tell me, my mind is OPEN on this: describe the benefit of Apple moving to micro-USB beyond "I can reuse my BlackBerry charger from 2005". I can't come up with enough pros for anyone, including the customer.
    - guelo 14y ago
      You would be able to buy a cable for $2 and share it with other phone users?

jpxxx 14y ago

I like this guy but this opinion piece has almost nothing going for it. What the tech-elite are upset about is that the iPhone is the product of -SAFE- design. They made safe design choices, safe technical choices, safe aesthetic choices, and paved over some platform disruptions that are going to stick in more than a few craws (new maps, new dock connectors, new advertisement rules, etc). There was no zing zap zowie twist, no manic panic streak, just safe iterations like thinner/faster/tighter/stronger. Think about it: there isn't one new sensor type, one new I/O type, one signature new datatype (save for possibly Passbook), nothing. The smartphone is becoming mature and the 8000 pound gorilla isn't willing to start zigging and zagging with the highest profile product in technology. People want to be wowed, and when all they got was a thorough refinement of what they had, they left disappointed. My mom is going to love the decisions Apple made regarding her iPhone 5. John X. Android won't. It doesn't matter though. This phone is going to sell tens of millions a month, be the safe #2 market seller, be the #1 money spinner, and stand for another year as the overall best. You want daring phones? You want risky phones? Look elsewhere.

thewarrior 14y ago
What happened to "Think Different" ?
- jpxxx 14y ago
  "Think different" won them a dominant position in two colossal (and colossally important) markets that they're in the process of eviscerating to the consternation of all involved. I assure you they are in the process of "thinking different" about a number of new markets and form factors. For the ones that are gushing money? "Think Dominant"
  - ktizo 14y ago
    For the ones that are gushing money? "Think Dominant" Well, that goes fairly well with their 1984 commercial I suppose.
- jrockway 14y ago