This afternoon, or this morning US time, Apple launched some new products at their launch event in San Francisco. One of the products is the iPhone 3G. What a massive buzz it has created online. Not like anything I've ever seen before.
The Twitter search engine Summize.com says over 30 posts are going up on Twitter about the iPhone launch every minute. That's almost 2,000 articles on Twitter in an hour. Google says there were 2,232 blog articles about the launch in the last hour. And there were 1,150 news articles about it according to Google news. This is one big online event and Apple has one huge geek following.
Now I bought the iPod Touch the day it was announced (like iPhone, but just for music, web and video). I pre-ordered it so that I had it before it was available in the shops even. The sheer sexiness of this gadget was too much to resist. So I'm now also seeing what happens to one of these gizmos once you've had it a few months. Here's what happens... It turns itself off. It runs out of power very quickly. It doesnt feel you pressing the buttons on its touch screen, so it just doesn't work. And that's just the iPod Touch. Add phone features and you also get the fact that you can't hear or speak properly (I know people that use it whose first words when they pick up are often "call me on the house phone").
And once, I dropped it. Only the once. But the ground gouged a jagged corner out of what used to be a nice smooth frame. That really annoys me and rips every pocket I put the phone into. I've read it's made out of some kind of substance that can't ever come into contact with anything like the floor or it breaks.
Don't get me wrong, I think the new iPhone looks great. And even though it will go a bit glitchy, it's a nice gadget. But I think that to be an online reporter / blogger / that kind of person, for the online social content creator, you need things it doesn't have. Reuters' mobile journalism toolkit is worth reading up on if you're a mobile reporter of some kind, and if you need things like video.
A view from the other side of the fence - refreshing! I'm still rocking a Treo - I went to Buzz Town and then moved back out to the 'burbs
Posted by: Phil Sheard | June 09, 2008 at 10:19 PM
Hi Phil. Thanks! To be honest I don't think one device can do everything right. I'm email heavy, so need a blackberry. Then for video and photo blogging, the N95 8GB is good.
Posted by: Drew | June 09, 2008 at 10:26 PM
I never buy first gen Apple products, so I'm happy iphone 2.0 is finally here. Can't wait to get my hands on one (preferably in white).
Posted by: Melanie Seasons | June 09, 2008 at 10:33 PM
Weird - I don't agree. Tough device, no voice probs, simple integration with all my sites. 3G will solve the second-to-last issue in my mind (having to be in wifi to get anything meaningful done).
Just a video camera to go. Roll on iPhone 3.0.
Posted by: Jon Silk | June 10, 2008 at 02:02 PM