iPhone

The Early Adopter Paradox

(I wanted to link to Brett’s article yesterday when I read it but I couldn’t think of a reason why and I didn’t want to just quote something. But when I read Cameron’s reason for linking I realized that’s exactly why I wanted to link to it. So, with out further adieu…)

Brett’s Article is here: The Early Adopter Paradox

And Cameron Hunt said: “Good article by Brett Peters about non-techies as the best iPhone salespeople. It’s really amazing, and I’ve seen it happen as well.”

The Early Adopter Paradox

After One Week With an iPhone

The iPhone. Loverly.

On June 29th I followed Twitters, read blog posts and saw flickr images as thousands of people stood in line and bought their iPhone.

Although I would have loved to been a part of the fun, there were three reasons I wasn’t in line that day: (a) I have never been an early adopter, and have always waited for at least the second generation product. (b) $600 was too much for me to spend guilt-free on a cellular telephone. And (c) I still had 80-some-odd days left in my current non-AT&T contract.

Now that the iPhone was on the shelves Paris Hilton started to get pushed down as iPhone screamed across all the headlines, Diggs, and permalinks. Everyone who had or hadn’t doubted the hype, they were all discovering that it was more amazing than they anticipated. It really was that cool.

Then – two months later – Steve dropped the price by two Benjamins. That very day I went to the Apple store and bought a first generation iPhone. Unfortunately I had to wait for 16 days for my current contract to end so I could port my number fee-free upon activation.

I used to take my PowerBook everywhere and have used it virtually every day since I bought it nearly three years ago. Last week it got the least amount of attention ever.

Now, after a little over a week of iPhone usage I would like to say that my life really has changed. I have always said I just want a phone that makes calls and does TXT, but after having access to my Calendar, my email, my music, the Web and beyond. I am shocked at how much fun it is to be productive and not always stuck in my office.

The iPhone is more than I had thought it would be. The way it works, thinks and feels is incredible. In no particular order, here are the things I like, dislike, am confused by or have noticed about my iPhone in some capacity.

  • Visual Voicemail: For years I have been horrible at checking my voicemail. I always just call the person back without listening to their message. (This is partly due to the fact that most voice messages go something along the lines of, “Hey Shawn, this is Hank. I was thinking we should really meet up sometime to go get steak. On me of course. I’m free next Thursday at Noon. Friday at 5. Saturday at 2. Or Sunday at 3:30. Also, do you know a good place to get my transmission fixed. It’s been acting funny. So call me back, OK? Talk to you later. Oh, and my number is 555-5555.” Then you have to listen to the whole thing again to catch the phone number, only to call them back and have the same conversation again just as it was on the voicemail. They should just say “This is Hank. 555-5555. Let’s get steak. Call me back.”)Back to the voicemail problam. Eventually I will accumulate 8 – 10 new voicemails only to have the last one be an important one with a feeling I ought to listen to it. I then suffer through 7 non-applicable messages to get to the one I thought would be important only to discover it wasn’t.

    Visual Voicemail eliminates every one of these problems. I can listen to my voice messages out of order. I can tap and drag for fast-forward or rewind to any part of the message. I can delete without listening, etc. This is one of my favorite features. In fact I love Visual Voicemail so much I keep a few old messages on my phone simply for the sake of demoing Visual Voicemail to others.

  • The Keyboard: I wish landscape keyboard was supported in more than just Safari. Primarily in Mail. It is much easier to type on, although it does take up most of the screen making it hard to see the text field your typing in.I am still getting used to a tactileless keyboard, but the iPhone is doing an outstanding job at learning words I commonly use (like “shawnblanc”) and common mistakes I make. Having a QWERTY keyboard has made texting a blast.
  • Hahlo: My online Twitter client of choice. Its smart and fast – even over EDGE.
  • SMS: The iPhone is my first camera phone. Something I have always looked forward to in a camera phone was sending picture text messages. I’m still waiting.The iPhone doesn’t send or receive images over SMS. What a bizarre omission.
  • EDGE: As long as you’re not on driving on the highway, EDGE is not that bad.According to the iPhone Network Test I average around 175kb/sec in Kansas City. A mere pittance compared to the 700 – 800 I get at home, but often times EDGE is faster than my network at work.

    Having the ability to check email, twitter, and waste time on the internet from nearly anywhere I want surely must be a milestone in the history of our planet.

  • The Screen: 160 ppi is incredible. Pictures are sharp and crisp. Text is clear. White is bright.I’m curious if anyone else with an iPhone noticed that the cleaning cloth doesn’t really clean. It sort-of pushes around the finger-prints and oil? The best way I have found to clean my iPhone screen is with my jeans. Seriously.
  • The Inter-Application Workflow: Is amazing. The way the phone works with itself.I am still telling stories about the first email I got with a phone number in it asking me to call someone and how I just had to click on the number to make the phone call. Clicking on a YouTube opens up the YouTube app. Etc.

    It is all just incredible. The iPhone really is a joy to use. I don’t mind that I can’t whip-flip through everything without looking. I want to hold the phone and tap on it.

  • The iTunes WiFi Music Store: Very cool. Very easy to spend money.
  • The Nod: When I see someone else with an iPhone I want to say ‘hi’ to them and show them my phone. But I haven’t figured out a way to do this without imagining that I’m coming across as lame. So instead I just say, “Hey. Nice iPhone.” But I try to say it in such a way as to sound different from all the people that say that to them who don’t own iPhones, and to sound like someone who does own an iPhone. But it never works. Oh well. Life goes on.

There are surely more than a dozen other little details I have noticed which prove the inteligent design of the iPhone. But most importantly, the iPhone has taken my work life and my home life and seamlessly merged them into an enjoyable environment that actually has made me live with less stress throughout my day.

After One Week With an iPhone

My Unique iPhone Update Experience

A bit of back-story is required for my update experience was unique. And I’ll tell you now that it’s not all that exciting. However – you will definitely appreciate it if you, like me, have your iPhone away from the home office computer that you’ve got it synced with.

I have been rocking my PowerBook G4 for almost 3 years now, but fianally upgraded to a Quad Core Mac Pro about two months ago. Since then, the Mac Pro has (obviously) been my main machine.

Having two macs necessitated a subscription to .Mac, which in turn made my .Mac username the Chief Potentate of all my accounts with Apple – including iTunes. And I haven’t bought a song of iTunes using my PowerBook since I got the Mac Pro and changed everything over to my .Mac account.

On Thursday, Apple released the next big software, firmware and feature update for iPhone. However, I am currently out of town toting around my PowerBook which is not the computer I used to setup, activate and sync my iPhone with.

Also, many of the songs and videos on my iPhone are not on my PowerBook and it would be a shame to sync, and lose them for the weekend. However, I decided to go for it anyway and see what would happen.

I connected my iPhone to my PowerBook and opened iTunes. I have automatic sync turned off so nothing would start without my permission. Without manually syncing the iPhone I simply clicked on “Software Update”.

The new update – 1.1.1 – downloaded and installed itself seamlessly without ever syncing my songs, videos, photos, etc…

Now that I had access to the iTunew Wi-Fi Music Store I tried to buy a song, however my iPhone was set-up with my old iTunes username with no way to change it from iPhone’s settings.

Realizing that I probably still had that username logged in on my PowerBook I logged out and re-logged-in with my new username. Then, I only had to plug in my iPhone, let iTunes see it, eject it and wala. The username was updated on my iPhone.

I never had to sync, or authenticate, or anything. Just plug it it and let iTunes do the rest. And that, my friends, is good news for anyone who doesn’t like to wait for things.

My Unique iPhone Update Experience

Why I have an un-activated iPhone sitting on my desk

My un-activated iPHone just hanging out.

On June 29th, I – like thousands of others – went to the Apple store. I didn’t wait in line though because I knew I wouldn’t be buying the highly anticipated gadget of the year. Since the Apple store was open until Midnight that day, a friend and I went down later after the crowd was gone.

After a couple minutes hands on with the display phone I was blown away. Even though I walked out of the store holding two 8GB models I didn’t buy one for myself. Those two phones flopped on eBay, and I took them back a week later.

Why I didn’t buy an iPhone on June 29th

  1. I have never bought a first generation product before. Doesn’t matter if it’s a car, phone, computer, etc. The first gens are always twice as buggy as the second. I would rather be a late adopter and a headache-free, long-term enjoyer. (Is enjoyer even a word?)

  2. On June 29th I still had 84 days left with my current (non-AT&T) service provider. The $599 iPhone price tag coupled with a $175 cancelation fee was too much.

However … by September 4th I had overcome both obstacles mentioned above.

After a conversation with Sean I realized that all the quirks and issues are software related – not hardware. Thus my main concerns about the first generation iPhone were relieved.

Secondly, I was able to pick up a few side jobs that would pay me enough to get a 4GB refurbished phone. (A note to married guys: Never buy an expensive gadget without your wife’s concent. If you do she’ll be mad instead of jealous. Thanks to the side jobs, my wife happily let me budget money for an iPhone.)

So there I was on September 4th – sitting in front of my monitor looking at the Apple Store’s refurbished iPhone page trying to make decision.

If I bought a refurbished 4GB iPhone then, I was sure to get one. What I wasn’t sure about was how things would look in 24 hours.

The next day Apple was going to make an announcement. I was afraid Steve would bust out the 2nd generation iPhone and then hide all the 1st gens and keep the same price tag, thus forcing me to continue using my Samsung hunk of junk until the 2nd Generation iPhone showed up on the refurbished page.

After mulling it over a bit I decided to wait and see what would happen at the press conference the next morning.

September 5th was my June 29th

Conveniently I was at home during the keynote furiously refreshing Engaget just like the rest of you.

As soon Steve made the price drop announcement I was out the door and on my way down town. I walked in and bought a brand new 8GB model.

Why I have an un-activated iPhone sitting on my desk

I still have one more week before I can freely port my current number to AT&T. And yes, I could run the Jailbreak hack to mock-activate my iPhone, (and believe me, I thought about it) but that’s not the way it was intended to be set up.

My iPhone is un-tampered-with for the same reason I don’t read articles in NetNewsWire. And the same reason I drink pop out of the can and am always the best dressed at weddings:

I want the full experience. Nothing less.

Why I have an un-activated iPhone sitting on my desk

The September 5th Tweets (and the Words ‘iPhone’ and ‘iPod’ Thrown Into the Title for Good Measure)

I had a blast reading through Twitter reactions to the Apple announcement today, and I wanted to share the joy.

Please enjoy a completely random compilation of the tweets that stuck out to me today for no particular reason.

Merlin –

Liveblogging the Gettysburg Address: “Ok, we’re starting…Abe looks tired…opens with historical reference…no mention of iPods yet…”

Dunstan –

I am ashamed by my constant reloading of Engadget’s Apple Event coverage. Ashamed.

Daniel –

Think of it more as a $100/month “early access” exclusive membership fee.

Craig –

iPhone doubter prediction: “APPLE IS LOWERING PRICES BECAUSE THEY ARE HAVING PROBLEMS SELLING IPHONES!!!11!!”

Zeldman –

@chockenberry, the doubter prediction was inevitable. If Apple brought world peace, it would be a sign that iPhone sales were sluggish.

Aaron –

Shutting off Twitter for the day. I can’t handle the Apple orgasms

Sean –

It’s clear that Apple has become more infatuated with their products than their users.

Dave –

people complaining about the iphone price drop haven’t paid attention to how gadget tech/pricing has worked for the last two decades.

Dave –

why don’t they just make zunes the free prize in boxes of Apple Jacks?

Scott –

why do people think the Beatles will make online distribution of music legitimate? Apple has sold 3 billion songs online… that’s legit.

Neven –

I wonder if all these iPhone price drop haters go down to the store and spew insults when there’s a 2-for-1 special on cereal

John –

Twitter’s going to be offline for a couple of hours tonight. You know what that means – WE’RE ALL GETTING iPHONES! WHOOOOO!

John –

Some might say the iPod Touch home screen is half empty. Others might say it’s half full. Me? I say, “Ooh, new icon for Calculator!”

Shawn –

On my way to the Apple Store for an iPhone.

The September 5th Tweets (and the Words ‘iPhone’ and ‘iPod’ Thrown Into the Title for Good Measure)

The Nod

The Nod

…you don’t see Vista users doing it. You don’t see many cell phone users doing it. But I suspect it’s only a matter of time before you get your first iPhone nod.

Another good one from Brett.

The Nod

What Apple copied from Microsoft

Jeffery Zeldmen’s article about the power the iPhone has had on his work life is simply outstanding.

My iPhone has made me stop using calendar, contact, and e-mail applications I’ve used day and night for over a decade, and switch to the free — and in some ways less capable — applications that come bundled with Macintosh OS X. […] Changing years of work habits is not easy. Migrating data, in some cases by hand, takes time I don’t have to spare. Yet I’m making these changes of my own will, and happily.

I think I’ll read it again tomorrow.

What Apple copied from Microsoft

iPhone Tips & Tutorials: A semi-comprehensive link list

NOTE: If you know of a link or two (or three) that you think would fit in here, please send it my way: [email protected].

Ever since June 29th, 2007 there has been so much development happening for the iPhone it’s crazy. For archive’s (and sanity’s) sake I’ve compiled a list of the iPhone web-apps, developments, tips, tutorials, helpful tid-bits, articles that stand out to me, and more.

This page is a perfect one-stop shop for two types of people:

1) Those who currently have an iPhone and want in on the discoveries and web-apps being published but don’t have time to surf the internet like crazy.

2) Those who hope to get an iPhone some day, don’t want to miss out on the developments taking place right now and are not particularly looking forward to digging through archives.

Apps

Tutorials & Tips

Wallpapers

Hardware Accessories

Articles and Reviews

Miscellaneous

iPhone Tips & Tutorials: A semi-comprehensive link list