What a great take on the overall Apple hype. The part about imagining stores as community spaces is doubly ironic. I ride the train every day in Hong Kong, and phones have transformed those from community spaces into a place where everyone plays some kind of Tetris-like game or Instagram with their headphones on. And I get it, a train full of strangers isn't always wonderful, but I often do try to start a conversation and always enjoy it—once the other person has gotten over the shock of actually being spoken to, in real time, from (as the author so nicely puts it) my garbage mouth into their garbage ears.
1
So, instead of it being just an "I" phone, it is a "Me" phone. That's a decade of progress for you... Ten more years and it will de-volve to a "Myself" phone.
2
I watched the event for the first time the other day. Since I am unable to occupy my house after Irma until the power comes back on I had nothing better to do. It made me nauseous. What a shame that a thousand dollar phone and a bunch of Steve Jobs clones took away the breath of the audience. Wouldn't it be nice if all that effort and money went toward something that benefited humankind.
1
My take on Apple and Samsung (Apple it's own market, Samsung the Android market leader) new offerings this year is that it is game over for all the lower price point makers.
Why?
In two years time the cost of todays iPhone X and S8 or Note 8 will be next to nothing. Simply stated, the best premium phones in two years will be superior to cheaper, but new, competition and therefore kill demand for the competition.
Will todays Note 8 or iPhone X be superior to a Pixel or Motorola or LG new phone in two years? I'd almost guarantee it.
I watched the presentation (on my iMac —I’ve used an Apple computer exclusively since way back in the late 1980s and don’t even know how Windows operates). For this writer, a non-tech person, Apple always signified user-friendliness. I can intuitively use and master its hardware and software in short order; quite a feat for an otherwise hard copy bookworm.
As much as the latest presentation sold me on at least one new item (the watch 3), I found the general tenor of the event somewhat repellant. It wasn't only a cheerleading rally featuring speakers with impoverished vocabularies (“Incredible!” was the default adjective, to the point of tedium), it was the hard-to-miss religious aspect of the affair. This was the Church of Man, centered on materialism instead of spirit (though spirit was marketed as a by-product of gadget-acquistion).
The presenters were the elite of Silicon Valley, but Apple’s Big Event was sad and empty. The relentlessly upbeat tone seemed contrived, and the virtue-signaling by a corporation wealthier than the dreams of Midas, hollow.
I will probably purchase the new watch, but not to enhance my being. It’s just a better gadget than last year’s model, and Apple is a hugely successful corporation, not a vessel of transcendence. The Church of gadgetry is Babbittry revived. Let’s keep in in perspective.
I think of the resources needs, the electronic waste created - just hype. I'll hang on to my iPhone 5 for another year (or 3)
.... and I will not buy one. (a - select - Apple fan)
.... and I will not buy one. (a - select - Apple fan)
1
Boy there is a lot of snark in the comments today. I watched the event, and found the Apple Watch video to be quite moving. But then Apple is a master when it comes to advertising its products. If you don't like Apple or its products, buy something else. If you don't like technology, don't buy or use it. All of it is just tools that can be used to help in our daily lives if used wisely. I don't look at my iPhone when walking outside on a beautiful fall day, but look directly at the beauty of this world without a screen in between to modify or interpret it for me.
3
As the environment continues to degrade and the corporate oligarchy erodes our freedom, we cling even tighter to our toys, like a five-year-old clutching a stuffed animal. The planet is melting and flooding, but, hey, I can send a text message in the animated form of an emoji! Woo hoo!
4
Apple smashed the "group-think" of microsoft in 1984 commercial.
The cult of iPhone has become what Apple tried to destroy 30 years ago.
The cult of iPhone has become what Apple tried to destroy 30 years ago.
2
"...And the people bowed and prayed, to the neon god they made" ~ Simon and Garfunkle
10
You must learn to love big brother
2
Steve Jobs was one of the greatest con men in history. He convinced people they couldn't live without Instagramming photos of their meals, reading tweets from the president, Googling song lyrics and following Facebook posts. His followers made him rich, and he made them believe they were interesting.
Baaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!
iSheep at work once again.
Living your day attached to the internet is no way to live.
There are children to play with, sunshine to enjoy, life to live.
Florida and Houston no doubt need electricity restored, but the internet should not be mentioned in the same sentence (its too bad a simple phone call or text can't be disconnected from the idea).
My last phone served me well for 6 years and my newest $50 one seems to do everything one could imagine needing to live life.
Keep that $950 you save and contribute it to storm relief.
1
I am immune to the Apple allure or to Job's "magnetism". Survived without ever using any Apple product. I use anything that is not Apple - Microsoft, Android, Amazon, Google - I am doing fine, and I am saving money.
1
Ms. Ahrendts can tell herself that fiction as much as she wants to, but Apple is as motivated by greed as the rest of the big companies are, hawking overpriced products. That animated emojis is one of the major selling points of this new phone should tell us something.
3
The cult of Apple comprises the same sorts as other cults - people too insecure to think for themselves.
1
Keep your old iPhone/Android smartphone (just update the OS and replace the battery).
Take the $1,000 instead of buying a newer smartphone and donate it to a worthy charity like Red Cross or SPCA who could really use the money.
5
Having recently read reviews of Kurt Andersen's Fantasyland, this "it did look better on the phone" new reality seems pretty frighteningly in line with the book.
1
Hmm. Looks like the essential protective case you will buy for it will have to be thinner around the edges or obscure some of the display?
As a former Apple employee I can't help but snicker at Poniewozik's snark. "I looked up through the skylight over my desk. Yep. That iPhone sky looked way better than the garbage regular sky that I could see through my garbage human eyes." "Tim Cook, paid tribute, his voice cracking with emotion, Mr. Jobs’s steeple-fingered image looming as big onstage as Big Brother’s face in the classic Macintosh “1984” commercial." And I ask, back then we felt we were on a mission to do something exceptional, is this what happens when a company like that is wildly successful, does chasing perfection leave us with an "augmented-reality", I happen to think (with all its flaws) that "real" reality is pretty exceptional.
2
Watching it and fawning over it are two different things. This was a glorified spectacle and advertisement of young people using devices. I like my iPhone. Siri is a constant disappointment compared to google, alexa.
I'd rather they fix Siri, make it a killer can't do without voice assistance and improve battery life. Practical and unsexy...yeah for those not a teenager, that will sell.
I'd rather they fix Siri, make it a killer can't do without voice assistance and improve battery life. Practical and unsexy...yeah for those not a teenager, that will sell.
5
I'll pass. Once you get a touch of freedom Android offers, it becomes difficult to use an Apple product.
4
All over the internet there are good discussions about Apple's new products. But every single one of those discussions is inundated with ever interrupting Android trolls, each with the same message - Apple is bad, Android is good. Be that as it may, for a similar approach to discussion, highly recommended is a visit to YouTube. Look up Monty Python's Argument Sketch.
6
Evening. Students crossing the campus, faces lit up by the screens of phones held while walking. Oblivious to beauty of darkness falling.
Shutting out reality.
23
The so reminds of one of the main theme’s of Infinite Jest, the galaxy size novel by genius linguistist David Foster Wallace.
Wonder what happened to Apple Events on our Apple TV's? After several frustrating attempts we also ended up watching it on our Mac's. Thought the problem was ours but obviously not if you were also unable to watch it.
1
How obscure.
I had no trouble watching it at all, using Apple TV! It was such a pleasure to watch an Apple Event on a big screen, with no jerking or losing the stream - or even worse, watching on a web site where the people were getting phone feeds of the info from the event and relaying it to us.
1
While many busy themselves immersed in the transitory, there's real suffering in the world that could be lessened by putting down one's electronic device, looking around, and helping others. And, by so doing, find a form of satisfaction one can never find in the transitory.
24
You know, an Apple Event is nothing more than something similar to Fashion Week - the latest and greatest are introduced to us. We don't have to watch it, we don't have to buy any of the products. It has nothing to do with a philosophy of life (unless one is a Luddite), or politics or anything else. One can buy and enjoy such products and still help the downtrodden - they are not mutually exclusive.
An Apple Event is an introduction of new products, done in a manner not done by any other manufacturer anywhere. It is brilliant marketing! We see something shiny and new, we are told we must wait to see it in person, and excitement is built. If there was genius in Steve Jobs, it may have been his marketing acumen as much as the product itself and its design.
Yes, I deplore young people with their nose in their phone (it can be any brand!) rather than interacting with others. Much of this is the fault of their parents and how they teach their children to use electronics. But I don't want to go back to having to try to find a pay phone that is working, I love the convenience of being able to take a picture without having to haul a camera with me, and I find it very convenient to be able to get directions from a device in my hand. BTW, I'm almost 74 yrs old.
An Apple Event is an introduction of new products, done in a manner not done by any other manufacturer anywhere. It is brilliant marketing! We see something shiny and new, we are told we must wait to see it in person, and excitement is built. If there was genius in Steve Jobs, it may have been his marketing acumen as much as the product itself and its design.
Yes, I deplore young people with their nose in their phone (it can be any brand!) rather than interacting with others. Much of this is the fault of their parents and how they teach their children to use electronics. But I don't want to go back to having to try to find a pay phone that is working, I love the convenience of being able to take a picture without having to haul a camera with me, and I find it very convenient to be able to get directions from a device in my hand. BTW, I'm almost 74 yrs old.
7
Yes, we can all appreciate the inconvenience of having to fish out dimes to make a call. How did we manage. But the larger point is that technology is racing ahead our capability (or willingness) to understand its impact on society. I hope the upcoming "Blade Runner 2049" movie illuminates thinking on the potential dangers of worshipping technology. India, you can, of course, spare yourself the inconvenience of going to a theater, and just watch it on your new iPhone X when it's released on iTunes next year.
2
Just cannot believe what a different world we live in, all in just 10 years. We miss you Steve!!
15
"We miss you." Says the cult member. I don't. At all.
My god, the event reminds me of a tent revival except this has the image of Jesus replaced by Jobs, and instead of passing the plate, they want you to buy a $1K phone. I will always concede Jobs marketing and esthetic genius, but he was a sociopath and a copier.
Yes, copier. The original Mac with a GUI was stolen from Xerox, the Safari browser from open source, the current OS from Unix via Berkeley Free, and the smartphone from Nokia.
Yes, the smartphone. Nokia Communicator, way back in 1996, 21st anniversary now. No, no touchscreen or GPS, but the combined functions - including fax at one point came from Nokia.
Master huckster.