Filed under: Bad Apple, iPhone
BusinessWeek: Why I Won't Buy an iPhone
Arik Hesseldahl has a thoughtful article up today over at BusinessWeek, describing why he won't be buying an iPhone any time soon. There are far too many great lines to quote here so go read the entire post. Hessendahl call's Apple's no-third-party development stance ridiculous. He argues that software developers are an important part of what makes the Mac the strong platform it is -- commercial partnerships and contractual entanglements shouldn't come before creativity and home-brewed innovation. I totally agree. The iPhone is a beautiful OS X platform that deserves to be opened to development.
Full disclosure: Arik consulted with me during the writing of his article.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Johnny Thrash said 5:11PM on 10-08-2007
I agree that it should be open, but it's not. Cest la vie.
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Patrick Maley said 5:12PM on 10-08-2007
Decent article at best but poor considering it appeared in businessweek. Apple is not creating these devices for hackers and techies that like to play...they represent a very small portion of the market. Apple is gunning for the masses...make something easy for everyone to use. I like to play and download stuff for my blackberry...the majority is worthless...but the fact is most of what I need for mobile communication is already loaded. So, the techie community may care but Apple's not after that market. It's a business decision and it hasn't affected them yet...nor do I think it ever will.
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Mitch said 5:21PM on 10-08-2007
All would agree that the iPhone is not perfect. Everyone has their own list of what the iPhone should do (better).
However, even in the current state, it is the best phone out there.
If Mr. Hesseldahl chooses to buy (use) a lesser phone then it is his loss.
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Mike said 5:22PM on 10-08-2007
Why I won't read this article:
I'm sick of hearing about the iPhone and hackers. The iPhone is what it is and not what you wish it was. Buy it or don't buy it, but can we all move on now?
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jonathan ober said 5:23PM on 10-08-2007
#4 hit it on the nose. Tired of the trash talk about the iPhone and hacking...woo you can hack your iPhone...hope it doesn't brick, loser.
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Stuart said 5:27PM on 10-08-2007
Yup, all this 'why I won't buy blah blah' is getting very old. I'm sure the iPhone right now does a lot of what people want, if you want something else go elsewhere just stop telling us why, we don't care.
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Gordon said 5:31PM on 10-08-2007
I am in full agreement with #4 and #5. And frankly, I'm not going too far on a limb here to say its coming anyway, delivered in the framework Apple wants it to be.
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DrWho said 5:31PM on 10-08-2007
Get ready for the anti-hacking iPhone backlash because 99% of iPhone owners don't care.
We get it - it's not open to 3rd party developers (yet) which gives a small % of iPhone owners the vapours but leaves the rest enjoying it as it is.
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Amanda Walker said 5:33PM on 10-08-2007
Apple has never "gunned for the masses." Apple has always aimed for high value niches (like music, movies, education, etc.). If the iPhone is meant as a sealed commodity phone, that's fine, but that's not a kind of market Apple has ever expressed interest in, and frankly the iPhone is overpriced for it.
Apple is pitching the iPhone as a lifestyle product, and then preventing people from fitting it into their lifestyle. We'll see how well that works...
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Johnny Thrash said 5:36PM on 10-08-2007
#3 & $4 : That's what I'm screaming.
We have the best phone on the market and people still cry. They are just determined not to be happy.
If you don't like the damn phone, then go buy something else.
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tundraboy said 5:40PM on 10-08-2007
Apple will keep resisting third party developers until the day it opens the platform up then all hackerdom will have a collective orgasm and whisper sweet nothings again about Apple and 99% of iPhone owners will still not give a shivering shit about whether the iPhone platform is open or closed.
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Johnny said 5:46PM on 10-08-2007
Amen brother. I totally agree with this article 100%. The reason we whine and bitch is because these types of users are the ones who have supported Apple through thick and thin. We took all kinds of shit in the nineties because we believed in Apple and felt like we were a part of it. But now Apple has basically told people who once felt almost like 'family' to f*#& off because they care more about making money than nurturing the creative environment they created. It's about more than the iPhone, the entire company has changed and I think a lot of 'The Faithful' have already lost most of their faith in Apple. I think someone needs to sneak in and raise a pirate flag over Cupertino to remind them where they came from.
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Bill Mac said 5:48PM on 10-08-2007
Enough already! Hackers are now claiming that Apple is "punishing" them??!! (the article you link to uses that very word)
I guess the other 99% of iPhone users will have to start speaking up louder to be heard above the high-pitched noise....
We love the iPhone! It's the BEST phone and the BEST iPod we've ever used, and carrying the Internet around in our pocket it AMAZING! In less than 2 months it became a device that I cannot now imagine living without!
Do I need any 3rd party apps to make that happen.... uh... nope. Apple has already made my iPhone MORE THAN IT WAS when I bought it... and I expect they'll continue to do so throughout it's life.
If they ever choose to permit more development of Apps for the iPhone, great! As long as it's done right - through Apple. That way I know it will work. My time/phone/ipod/net connection is too important to risk on somone's sloppy programming, so I'll wait until it actually works... and suffer through the "punishment" of enjoying my iPhone as is. :)
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jeff said 5:51PM on 10-08-2007
The title of his article should read, "Why I Won't Buy an iPhone...right now" Why is he ranting and raving about this? If I were Apple I’d want to maintain a controlled environment for now as well. Obviously Apple will be opening up the platform to 3rd party developers at some point down the road. Have some patience for crying out loud.
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editwizard said 5:55PM on 10-08-2007
What really cracks me up is that I just read this article and commented from my iPhone! I love it (the iPhone not the article).
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Frank said 5:56PM on 10-08-2007
@13: i'm one of the faithful you mention, having stuck by apple through thick and thin since the apple 2, and i'm sticking by them through this, too. i firmly believe that steve hasn't laid all his cards on the table yet, and i think the final bit will come with the new OS later this month. if there's one thing i've learned, it's that when steve jobs has made mistakes in the past, he's learned from them. he knows that people are unhappy with the iphone, and i trust he knows what he's doing with the iphone, too.
also, i will mention that i am basically happy with my iphone as it stands. i wish i could put custom ringtones on it, but i think that's coming through official channels later. if not, i have no problem resorting to hacks. but in the meantime, i'm patiently waiting for the new OS to see how that affects things.
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sam said 5:58PM on 10-08-2007
wow so was it apple or at&t that sent the grunts to fill the comments section with pro-closed-platform/anti-iphone-hacking rants?
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XESpawn said 5:58PM on 10-08-2007
@ Mike, Jonathan, Stuart, and Dr. Who
How many times is it necessary to post this, or are you all just dumber than dirt?
The available stats clearly show that about half--THAT'S 50% NOT 1%, of people with iPhones have wanted to install 3rd party apps. With about 1.3 million iPhones sold to date, that's a lot us of out here that DO GIVE A DAMN! Nobody knows how many of those got suckered into installing Apple's 1.1.1 rev and lost their apps.
How stupid do you have to be to trouble yourselves to read an article that you say you don't give a damn about? How utterly berift of even a single functioning brain cell you must then be to bother yourselves to go through the comments, AND RESPOND(?!?!!?!)--to a topic you don't give a damn about?
I believe that level of stupidity would not allow you to survive beyond infancy. Therefore, I can only conclude that you are either masochistic freaks, or Apple operatives toting the company line (like mindless minions) anywhere you're allowed to post.
For the sake of the 650,000+ of us that do care, please STFU and stay out of the articles you say you're fed up with.
(Oh, before you come back with some other equally moronic comment like, "iPhone hacking has taken over TUAW", bear in mind that over the last 5 days, only 12% of the articles posted dealt with iphone hacking.)
Erica, keep up the great work. We love you and the iPhone Dev Team.
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yacoub said 6:01PM on 10-08-2007
Excellent article. Hopefully gets the ire up of the Apple fanboy trolls that love your posts, Erica. :D
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Mike said 6:01PM on 10-08-2007
JohnnY:
I've been a user of Apple's machines since 1993 and your rant is off base. Apple has ALWAYS acted like this, the only difference now is that they're being watched closer by the industry.
They've never opened products that weren't ready to be opened, and the iPod is a great example of this.
But you think Apple owes you, that Apple doesn't consider you 'family' because OS X is on the iPhone and it isn't what you want it to be? You think 'the Faithful' have lost their faith?
This isn't a religion, this is a business. And this isn't checkers, this is a proverbial game of chess. Apple makes moves that make sense in retrospect (purchase of SoundJam to become iTunes to sell iPods and eventually music and media is one example) and some of the decisions NEVER make sense (for instance the Cube's pricing) and still other decisions can be remedied (hockey puck mouse and iPhone software updates).
In other words, calm down and stop bloody over-reacting. Buy the iPhone or don't buy it, but wait longer than the first few months of a product's lifetime to say "You've been a fan for years and years and though you've always invited Apple over for dinner but they never come" is really, really immature.
You just sound whiny.
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