Not one, but two Slate regulars blaspheme the iPhone amid the media lovefest of the past week. First, Tim Wu flatly (and rightly) says that “the iPhone is—so far—not a product that will turn any industry inside out.” It’s a great phone, but a crappy, and moreover, locked computer.
Here’s the money quote: “Judged by the standards of a personal computer or electronics, that’s odd: Imagine buying a Dell that worked only with Comcast Internet access or a VCR that worked only with NBC.”
The obvious (and dreamy and impractical) solution is that Apple should’ve let it roam free, like a posthuman Jesus, from network to network, carrier to carrier, on “permanent roam.” Right now, you can’t even use Wi-Fi to make calls (a la T-Mobile). All in all, the iPhone isn’t really revolutionary—it pretty much “plays by the rules.”
https://gizmodo.com/t-mobile-introduces-hotspot-home-272612
Slate’s second hater, Jack Shafer, can have his criticism of the iPhone-loving media summed up thusly: “So, who is craziest? The doofuses in line, the panting authors of the iPhone news stories or the recent purchasers of Apple stock?”
Well, who do you think? And how just rule-abiding is the iPhone in the regulation-choked wireless industry?
iPhony: Why Apple’s new cell phone isn’t really revolutionary [Slate]
iPhone Suck-Up Watch [Slate]
