Like the iPod before it, the iPhone captures the collective attention of the Apple community with a strength that rivals the sun’s grip on the earth. Apple fans just can’t look away. It’s so pretty, so shiny, so fun. Even people that aren’t typically Apple fans get pulled into our community, albeit shortly. That makes it acceptable to be that uber Apple fan as you help your friends configure and customize their new phone.
Even the Mac software community is focused on the iPhone right now. Favorites like NetNewsWire and Twitterific are being put in the spotlight for all to see on the small screen. They’re starting over at 1.0, which is in itself is pretty exciting.
However, this all comes at a price for fans of the Mac. Suddenly, our favorite computer seems to be shunned, shut out. It’s simply that thing that we plug our iPhone into once a day. We might even use it to pick out some new applications for our phone. For now, it’s more of an appliance than a friend. That attitude usually gets reflected in Apple news as little gets announced in the way of Mac news.
I feel the pain of those frustrated users that want to hear about Macs more than iPods and iPhones. Don’t worry, we’re just as interested in seeking out the Mac stories in the sea of iPhone excitement.
Thank you for recognizing us non-iPhone Macophiles. I know how it is to get all caught up in the new thing, and I know things will even out eventually.
... Hey! Anyone there? Are you listening to me?
Until Apple releases iPhones for non-AT&T networks (i.e. ones that actually have decent coverage), it's a total non-starter for me. All this hype for a product that only 15-20% of the consumers can use is completely beyond me.
A new MBP however, is something we've been waiting for, for a LONG time. The speed bump in February didn't cut it (and didn't fix the banding/yellow screen issues). We want Montivena sooner rather than later!
It seems that Apple is slowly killing Macs, or wanting to completely recycle their user base.
They killed Classic mode on Leopard, my G3 running Jaguar can't synchronize with .mac (er, MobileMe) anymore, nor I can install new iTunes or Safari versions, which is possible even in a crappy 5-year old bottom end HP PC I use at work running XP, and there's strong suspicion that people who spent a lot of money on G5 machines are not being invited to the Snow Leopard fiesta.
15-20%??!! On what planet would that be? And is there oxygen there? You may want to take a glance over at the AT&T site and see just how much coverage they have. 15-20%? Heh.
I wonder how much pressure Jobs is getting these days to spin off the iphone division and raise, say, a few billion dollars in an IPO? It's really the only good news tech story these days and, as you say, it's completely obliterating the Mac business from a marketing perspective. I'm pretty sure investors would be interested in "iphone the company." What do you all think of this idea which, admittedly, just popped out of my head, half-formed....
15-20% is AT&T's market share, not coverage.
Although in some areas, that's how bad the coverage seems :-)