Here we go: the iPhone 4 is released this week in Australia although I will have to wait longer if I want a white one, which I do. Despite the media furore over the antennae ‘problem’ it is selling and selling. And selling, 3 million in 22 days. It looks like a heap of people want to tall-poppy the huge company Apple has become simply because it is so big and successful. And loved! Very unusual for a huge company to be liked by it’s customers to such an extent.
That being the case the way Steve “Mr Apple” Jobs dealt with the beat-up about ‘Antennaegate’ was a fascinating look at how differently they do things. He didn’t apologise or make any excuses. He didn’t admit that Apple had released a mis-designed product. He simply pointed out very clearly that there wasn’t a problem! Well, for a minuscule amount of people there was, but they had always been entitled to a refund anyway and their numbers were so tiny that it made no difference: no product will get 100% approval from it’s purchasers. He didn’t panic and give in to his detractors, he just got on with selling the best smart phone yet. Talk about having belief in your product. It was a lesson for any company offering tech products in this fast moving modern age.
My last mobile contract was for 2 years and in that time the original iPhone had become quite outdated with no movie recording, a weak camera and other minor drawbacks. The fate of the early adopters I suppose. But I am gambling on this mature version being just fine for another 2 years and so will renew my contract with Optus. I know that in 12 months an even better iPhone 5 will appear, but this one will take good enough photos to be my main camera, shoot HD video so I can take reasonable movies and do all the routine things that have made the iPhone such an indispensable part of my life.
Bring it on…