 Re: Apple 3G tops the iPhone on all scores -The TIMES 6-23-98
4phun wrote:
> Apple 3G tops the iPhone on all scores
> Published:Jun 23, 2008
>
> To Die For: Apple’s much- improved 3G iPhone ships with games of
> unusual graphics and sound quality
>
> Steven Van Hemert the Pixel Cowboy
>
> Steve Jobs did it again last week, making 6-million first-generation
> iPhone owners kick themselves in disgust as he made their geekware
> near obsolete with the announcement of the new 3G iPhone.
>
> I had been toying with the idea of getting one a few months back, but
> fortunately decided to heed the old adage, “Never buy a first-
> generation Apple product”.
>
> I was one of the fools that bought the original iPod, only to have it
> become rapidly outdated as Apple released an improved version every
> three months. I’ve learnt my lesson now, and am even looking at this
> new model thinking, what’s next?
>
> What interested me most about the 3G iPhone launch though was the BBC
> hands-on review. The journalist, having downloaded a web page in less
> than half the time of the current generation phone using Edge, turned
> her attention to the new apps, in particular, the games.
>
> At least half her write up on the latest must-have phone dealt with
> the games that come with it and the quality of the graphics and sound.
> And it made me wonder: will Apple do to the portable gaming market
> what they did to the portable music-playing market? In other words,
> come from nowhere to completely dominate the market within a year .
>
> Thing is, the iPhone can conceivably do anything the DS can, bar of
> course the dual-screen display. The iPhone offers full touch- screen
> operability, network connectivity, the ability to send and receive
> voice and video, plus it has the Wii-like trick of tracking the tilt
> and pitch of the device in your hands. Most of the games being
> developed for the iPhone now are based on this simple functionality,
> substituting a joystick for balance sensors.
>
> With technology increasingly concerned with the convergence of
> multiple devices into a single, portable über-gizmo, it makes perfect
> sense that Apple should be looking at game studios to develop titles
> specifically for the iPhone, adding robust portable gaming
> functionality to a top-end phone and mp3 player.
>
> At the iPhone launch last week there were already three game
> developers showing off their wares, including Sega with a reworked
> iPhone version of Super Monkey Ball.
>
> Considering the 3G iPhone is now the same price as a PSP and being
> targeted at the mass market, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Apple
> actively courting a gaming audience while introducing millions more to
> the world of mobile games.
>
I am amused by these kinds of remore-filled ponderings. The fact is that we
live in a world where technology changes at geometrically proportional
rates. An invention in 1948, say TV, seemed to stay the same forever. But,
as we've seen in the examples of audio 8-track tapes being rapidly replaced
by cassettes, which were then replaced by digital tapes, eventually to be
replaced by CD's and now DVD's, Sony Betamax to VHS, now to Bluray, etc., we
should be used to these things and stop crying in our spilt milk.
If one followed the author's lamenting advice, one would NEVER buy a new
techno-toy because, I guarantee you personally, a new one will replace it
within a year. People who wanted to be the first ones with the new iphone
got what they wanted, which was to be the first ones, more of a status thing
than a practical one, but hey, I've been there myself. The problem is the
'status' these days doesn't last as long as it did not too long ago. I was
one of the first people I knew to have a cell phone. THAT was status. Now
everyone has one. I remember when a person that had a Motorola Razr gained
status. Now little kids have sleeker, more sophisticated cell phones. Status
is gone.
But those who sit around waiting for 'the next generation' are only fooling
themselves. If Mr.Van Hemert thinks that the 3G iPhone is the Final Answer
and NOW he's safe to buy one, I think he has another hard awakening ahead
for himself within a year from now. I'd bet him on it.
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