Comments on: Apple to Early iPhone Adopters: You're Suckers

By: Dan Gillmor

Dan Gillmor — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 14:54:32 +0000

Dan, my critique was specifically about what kind of device *I* want and need. If it’s so great for other folks, fine by me. I’d still advise them to wait, however, for something that a) will let third-party developers make it more useful; and b) isn’t tethered to a dreadful carrier.

By: Dan Kennedy

Dan Kennedy — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 13:45:57 +0000

Dan — It strikes me that your critique of the iPhone, especially in comparison to the Nokia, is off base. The iPhone is a consumer product. What’s exciting about it isn’t that it’s a tool for journalists (it isn’t), but that it could grow into a tool for people to read, watch and listen to online journalism anywhere they happen to be. The Nokia, as you say, sounds like an amazing tool for producers of journalism.

Personally, I can’t afford either phone!

By: Dan Gillmor

Dan Gillmor — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 22:15:05 +0000

No, the sync is not at all awkward, because Nokia has written an iSync connector.

If you read my previous critique(s) you’ll see what I think is missing.

By: Chris Vadnais

Chris Vadnais — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 19:10:22 +0000

I didn’t mean to imply you couldn’t afford it — that wasn’t my intention at all. I’m sorry it came out that way.

I presume your Nokia phone syncs with the Mac like a Palm Treo does: very awkwardly, especially when compared to the iPhone. That was my point.

Just so I’m clear about what you’re saying, what exactly do you feel is missing? Is it the ability to choose your own carrier? The 3G network?

Chris

By: Dan Gillmor

Dan Gillmor — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 17:42:44 +0000

I can certainly afford one, and have tried it, which makes your critique of a device you acknowledge you haven’t touched a little strange. For the record, it does sync with the Mac (Nokia has posted an iSync app). And I am a Mac user.

I completely agree that the Mac interface is in many ways superior. But that doesn’t begin to make up for what’s missing. Apple will eventually get this right, and hackers will get some things right for them. Not yet, though…

By: Chris Vadnais

Chris Vadnais — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 17:19:05 +0000

It seems the only people who don’t like the iPhone are the people who are too cheap to buy one. I hear a lot of people who have never even tried the thing complaining that its network is too slow…weird. I don’t try to download mammoth files over the EDGE network, just like I wouldn’t on a 3G network–to a TELEPHONE. Mr. Gillmor, you seem especially bitter–like your mom wouldn’t let you get one so you’re going with the “I didn’t want one of those anyway” line.

I’ve never seen a Nokia E90 Communicator up close, but I’m fairly certain it wouldn’t sync up with my Mac the way the iPhone does. What does that run, the Symbian OS? Come on, be serious. You see, the draw of the iPhone, at least for me, is the draw of every Apple product: the software. Find a phone with a better interface. I dare you.

You hope for a version 2.0 that “fixes the thing.” What does that mean? Frees it from AT&T? I don’t have any problems with AT&T.

The iPhone may not be the best choice for you. I can understand that, especially if you’re not a Mac user. However, that doesn’t make early adopters suckers. It just makes us people who can afford to pay for something we feel is right for us.

The price drop isn’t surprising to me, either. After all, someone had to pay for all the Apple employees’ iPhones, right?