(Updated 6/21) With the release of the undeniably super-cool iPhone just around the corner, I have a plea for gadgetistas everywhere: Please don’t camp out, queue up or generally make a fool of yourself on the evening news in front of an AT&T wireless store next week. Like I’ve said over and over, there’s no reason to rush out and be the first on your block to experience the snafus and annoyances of brand new hardware or software. I am NOT predicting here that the iPhone will be flop. Au contrare. In fact, I’m sure it will be a huge, huge hit. But that’s not a reason to rush out and buy one. Why wait?
1. We don’t actually know all the capabilities and limitations of the phone and the AT&T service plans it will come with. Just think of all the confusion that followed the famous “Calamari” television ad. Some people assumed that because the phone pulled up a local map with seafood restaurants that it includes GPS capability. Turns out the phone has no GPS. It could be using a cruder technique related to cell phone tower locations, it could be a location preference set by the user, something else transmitted by AT&T’s network or who knows. How well it works is an open question. There will be reviews but first-takes are often way off base as the worst problems — or even best features — of a new products aren’t always obvious to jaded reviewers who’ve tested a million different things in the past year.
2. All 1.0 versions have bugs, hiccups and design flaws. I’m the guy who bought the original redesigned Saab in 1994 and I can tell you there were more than a few quirks. The electrical system in particular was a source of blow-outs and freaky problems for the years. For an updated model a few years later, Saab bragged about hundreds of tweaks and improvements. It needed them. The iPhone is a wholly new piece of hardware. Version 1.1 or even 2.0 might be a much better executed device.
3. If you are not already an AT&T (formerly Cingular) mobile customer, take a deep breath and calm down. AT&T’s network coverage has stronger and weaker areas around the country relative to competitors. here in the Boston area, Verizon’s coverage is considerably better. And the broadband side of the equation multiples this concern a hundredfold. Verizon and Sprint’s CDMA-based data networks are much, much faster than the EDGE technology in the iPhone. It won’t matter much for light email or the occasional map download but want to read the NYT online? It will matter (the iPhone does have wifi, though). AT&T’s prices, while comparable to Verizon’s, are also much steeper than those of Sprint and other smaller players.
4. Consider the limitations of converged devices. Do really want to put all your eggs in one basket like this? Say a much better iPod comes out in 6 months. Now you’re stuck with a $600 iPhone that lacks the cool new screen or video recording or whatever. Or what if cell phones make a leap to faster speed broadband connections — or an iPhone with GPS? Again, you’re stuck. When Motorola’s silly, icky ROKR phone came out with much hype, some sassy bloggers pointed out that the converged device was heavier and less functional than a Razr phone and an iPod nano glued together.
If none of those reach you, by all means, run out and buy one. Then please blog up a storm about how everything works, or doesn’t. The rest of us will be listening.
UPDATE: Apparently, we caught Fake Steve Jobs’ eye. His best line in a short diss:
“The guy is comparing an iPhone, designed in California and built by highly motivated child workers in China, to a car made by lazy socialists in Sweden. Whatever.”
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