September 18th, 2007
Apple: You're too dumb to make your own technology decisions
I was reading TechCrunch’s coverage of regarding the roll-out of the iPhone in the UK, particularly the point where it says:
…O2 has fired up its network with the slower Edge technology (as against Europe’s love affair with HSDPA) to accomodate the iPhone….. There is no 3G iPhone as yet because, as Jobs said at the launch, the “The trade off with 3G [in battery life] is too bad right now….
This, of course, gets to one of the iPhone’s biggest drawbacks: the fact that it doesn’t have an easily replaceable battery (an issue that New York’s Consumer Protection Board took serious issue with). The trade-off of HSDPA performance vs. battery life wouldn’t have been a trade-off at all if only Apple had thought to make the iPhone with a replaceable battery the same way pretty much EVERY other cell and smart phone on the market has. But Apple knows better, right? A replaceable battery would have probably confused people who are used to the iTunes/iPod-esque way of everything just working without a fuss.
Update 9/18/2007 8:40 PM PDT: Either Jobs knows something about forthcoming improvements to battery technology or he’s had a change of heart regarding iPhone design. He apparently said a 3G iPhone is coming in 2008.
I felt exactly the same way when I read Cory Doctorow’s blog post on how Apple’s new iPods have been re-engineered to block synching with Linux. Apple knows better than you. God forbid you should have choice and be able to make some technology decisions for yourself. Of course, Apple is engaged in all sorts of unspeakable acts of walled-garden erection: “OS X may runneth on the Intel platform but thou shalt not runneth OS X on anything but our Intel platform.” I’d be running OS X in a heartbeat if only I could run it on a notebook with a pointing stick (I hate touch pads). “Thou shalt not calleth someone with your iPhone on any network but AT&T’s network” (Ooops, HACKED). “For 99 cents, thou shalt only start the playback of an iTunes song manually. Automated playback as the result of an event (for example, the arrival of an inbound call on your iPhone), will cost you an additional 99 cents.” In other words, “You are dumb. Insert money here (buy Apple stock if you want it back).”
Bonus Link: video of Bill Maher ribbing (or should that be ripping) “early adopters” of the iPhone
