I suppose it would be pertinent of me (for the sake of increasing blog traffic) to comment on the hype and resulting hysteria related to the release of the iPhone this week. The hype surrounding this phone was unprecedented and Apple may have already sold 500,000 units. That’s about $300,000,000 in gross revenue by my humble calculations.
The owners of two other blogs I regularly read are kind of disgusted with the situation. Shaun Groves is somewhat annoyed, Joe Martino is pretty furious. What are these guys so upset about? What makes this example so much more significant than, say, the billions of dollars we spend every year entertaining ourselves at the movies?
I think I understand in part. Our money could be better spent. I agree, but welcome to the land of hypocrisy where every one of us buys things we don’t need. We do it on different scales of course, but I think we all do it. Joe asks “How much is enough?” Well, how much IS enough? Ryan wrote a thoughtful post that addresses some of things that I’ve been thinking about.
Did I buy one? No.
Would I like to have one? Yes.
Do I have the money to buy one? Yes.
Why didn’t I buy one? I don’t need it.
Like everyone else I am free to buy or not buy an iPhone.
Is this phone any good? By many accounts it is better by far than any other phone on the market. Steve Jobs saw an opportunity; he saw what was needed, created something to fill the need, then marketed it to people who needed it. Dispute the difference between ‘need’ and ‘want’ if you like, but do you want to become the judge who defines everyone’s ‘wants’ and ‘needs’?
Where Apple pretty much created a new gadget category with the iPod, with the iPhone they are trying to correct all the things that people hate about their current phones. If you need someone to blame for the huge sales number, blame the companies who make all the other crappy phones.
But aren’t we all playing right into Steve Jobs‘ hands? You’re talking about the iPhone, and now I am too. That’s all good news to Steve.
