AAVR Magazine

The iPhone: No longer a head turner?

Two days ago, Apple released firmware update 2.2.1 for the iPhone.  It had some minor bug fixes, and was supposed to improve audio  playback, and well I’m not sure what else.  And that got me thinking.  In the past, when the iPhone was fresh and new and not 3G, every update was a big deal.  The bugs they were fixing were big issues (like the bottom part of the screen not responding to touch, making it very hard to use the phone), and also great feature additions.  The addition of the AppStore in v 2.0 is one of the greatest additions, along with Exchange support for e-mail.  But now, this update, it doesn’t excite me.  There was no build up to it, it didn’t correspond with any Apple event, it was just there, and I might of missed it if I didn’t frequent tech blogs.

This has all got me thinking, the iPhone is no longer this mystical object that only the snobby Mac guys have.  When it was first announced, other phone companies and critics said that no one would want an all touch screen phone.  Now, every company is making one.  In that sense you could say that Apple really led the way in innovation to create something new, which they did.  And the mobile phone industry is forever changed.  But the other thing that is changed is what I do when I see someone else with an iPhone.  I used to be like, “hey look, they have an iPhone too.”  But when it seemed like I could no longer be in a room without someone else having one I stopped saying that.  

Now, it’s just a phone, just like every other phone.  Yes, it still does great stuff.  And whenever a new person gets one, it’s fun and exciting for a while, and you spend time downloading apps, and coming up with excuses to use the new level program you just downloaded.  But eventually, you become like me, and realized it’s just like that new TV, or New Car, or New Computer you bought.  After a while, it’s not new, it’s the same, and it has a purpose, and that is what you are going to use it for.  I still have my iPhone (the original) and I am going to keep it till it breaks, or AT&T disconnects the EDGE network and I have to get the new one.  

As for the Apple elitist group (which I am not a part of, but I do buy Apple stuff), they day that only creative artist bought Apple products is coming to a fast end.  With popularity of the iPod and now the iPhone, Apple has really come back to the mainstream, and as more and more people head to Apple for computers, we could see the price of Macs coming down, allowing even more to own a Mac, and then the computer world will really have to learn to live together.

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