Valhalla Island

I apologise for consecutive iPhone posts but I’ve just come across Laura Reis’s latest post and I just have to call out her bullshit.

Because I believe consumers prefer “better.” A convergence product like the iPhone can only offer up “good > enough.”

RAZR is a “better” phone. BlackBerry is a “better” email device. Nintendo DS is a “better” game player. Garmin is a “better” mapping device. iPod is a “better” music device.

She’s absolutely lost it. She’s obviously not seen any of the videos demonstrating the iPhone’s functions. The RAZR is a horrible phone - as Gruber says - “I know a bunch of people who own Razrs and I don’t know one who doesn’t despise the software.” Even Nokia, who are renowned for spending a lot of time and money on their phone’s UIs get it wrong. I own a Nokia and every time I write a message I click send and am given a box for typing a number, I have to click again to search contacts. I have never sent a text message to someone not in my phone book. The iPhone skips this step. The iPhone looks like a better phone than any I have seen or used.

Again, I have never used email on a Blackberry but I do own a Windows Mobile PDA with email. I love Mail.app on OS X. iPhone email is Mail.app with a modified interface, I have never seen mail so well done on a phone. Mail on my PDA, which you would assume should be better than mail on a phone, is ugly and difficult to use. Mail on the iPhone looks like how mail on a phone should be.

I don’t argue the Nintendo DS is a better gaming device but I don’t think the iPhone has ever claimed it’s a gaming device at all. Not even iPhone’s competitors claim to be gaming devices. My Whirlpool front loader is a better washing machine than the iPhone!

Garmin is a better way finding device. If you’ve seen the awkward angle sat nav devices view maps, it’s obvious they are made for finding your way in the car, they are not for mapping and at the same time, iPhone’s maps are not for way finding, it’s not for mounting on your windshield and programming a destination. Again, the comparison is incorrect. Google maps on a phone is simply something that hasn’t really been done yet.

As for the iPod being a better music device, I can’t believe this was even said - the iPhone is an iPod, it’s called the iPod application and it’s a better iPod. It has a touch screen, it’s widescreen, it can switch between landscape and portrait orientation, it has cover flow. Jobs has said it a million times “It’s the best iPod we’ve ever made”. He’s right, all new features in the iPhone’s iPod are the features people have been asking for and expecting in new iPods. It is the new generation iPod.

My iPod shuffle needs to be tiny so I can run with it.

That’s comparing apples to oranges. It’s like saying the Shuffle is better than an 80gb iPod video, or even a Nano.

The question is, will consumers be willing to compromise on battery life, size, price and easy of use in order to get an all-in-one device that doesn’t perform better than the sum of its parts?

At this point, I can’t believe this woman has written a book. Pouge got 23 hours of audio with Wi-fi turned on. No iPod (or any other device) has ever gotten anywhere near this sort of battery life. How can battery life that exceeds all other devices be a compromise? Size and price are slight disadvantages. A bigger device does have the counter advantage of a bigger video viewing area and compared to HP smartphones sold in Australia for around $1000, price is comparable.

That Reis sees ease of use as a compromise once again proves that she hasn’t watched or simply ignored the iPhone demonstration videos. The major selling point of the iPhone is that it’s so easy to use. Apple’s advertising contains no hype, it simply shows, with the real iPhone interface, how easy it is to use.

Reis is treating the iPhone as though it’s like every other “convergent” device, it’s not and that’s why the iPhone is going to be so popular. Right now it’s a market of devices that are “just good enough”, everyone is dying for a device that’s more (in terms of things done right) and the iPhone is that device. Every single one of Reis’s points ring true for the current smart phone market.

Just like it frustrates me when zealots hype products because they’ve got an Apple logo tattooed to their left ass cheek, it frustrates me when idiots write off every positive piece of information as zealotry. Look at the facts - the iPhone is better than any current smart phone, it’s going to sell and it’s going to be a big success, cut the bullshit.