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Apple Suck-Up WatchIt's not just a new kind of cell phone, it's a cultural watershed!

By Jack Shafer
Posted Wednesday, June 20, 2007, at 6:04 PM ET
iPhone.

The press corps' love for all things Apple routinely swells and bursts in a dewy explosion whenever the company readies a new gizmo for sale. Like the Detroit automakers of yore, Apple knows how to seduce reporters and editors with incremental improvements of existing products. Two years ago, the company kindled an embarrassing—for journalists—media conflagration with its introduction of the video iPod. The press largely ignored the fact that video-capable MP3 players already existed and treated Steve Jobs as if he was the reincarnation of Thomas Edison. If you don't believe me, get a load of these headlines.

Apple's latest PR triumph is the rollout of the iPhone, a product that Jobs announced back in January and which reaches stores next week. "iPhone mania nears fever pitch: Anticipation grows for June 29 debut," slobbers today's (June 20) USA Today. The device moved the Chicago Tribune to run a June 16 editorial titled "iLust for iPhone." The June 7 Business Week asks, "How Big Will the iPhone Be?" Answer: It may be a $10 billion business. So calculated is Apple's launch that it got news bumps early this week with the announcement that the iPhone battery will last three hours longer than originally promised and that it will play YouTube clips. No drop of milk oozes from the Apple teat without a crowd of journalists gathering to swallow it up.

Like the video iPod before it, the iPhone isn't the first to market in its category. Helio's "Ocean" beat it by more than a month and received a positive review from the Wall Street Journal's Walter S. Mossberg. The Ocean is $200 cheaper than the cheapest iPhone and it does GPS, while the iPhone doesn't. Phone tech and design are moving so fast these days that the media freakout over the iPhone indicates a press in need of imagination—or a swift kick in the ass from some editors.

Even the articles downplaying the iPhone hype—"Despite all the hype, iPhone details are still scarce," Boston Globe; "Apple shares gain on more iPhone hype," Associated Press; "There's hype, then there's iPhone hype," San Jose Mercury News; "iPhone Hype Has Gadget Geeks Camping and Drooling," Reuters—end up increasing anticipation. It's win-win for Apple, no matter what the press writes.

With iPhone Day a little more than a week away, the press writhing will grow only more furious. TV news cameras will stake out Apple stores and AT&T outlets to record the queuing customers. The first iPhone reviews, promoted on Page One, will flood the nation's newspapers. Somebody in San Francisco will stab and kill his iPhone-owning roommate for the pleasure of using the touch-screen to call his mom in Decatur. Hell, Steve Jobs will probably go onto Charlie Rose to talk about his iPhone vision and give teasing clues about Apple's next technological "discovery."

And somewhere out there in medialand a journalist will produce such a fawning piece of iPhone worship that the Church of Apple will anoint him a saint. Do your part and send me () the most ridiculous examples of Apple polishing you encounter over the next two weeks, and I'll publish the results in a future column.

******

Disclosure: I've worked for Slate since it was founded in 1996 by Microsoft, an Apple competitor. Slate is now owned by the Washington Post Co. (E-mail may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

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Jack Shafer is Slate's editor at large.
Photograph of iPhone courtesy Apple Inc.
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Remarks from the Fray:

The media loves Apple because they are the only innovative consumer electronics company in the country. The rest of them are so risk averse it is almost impossible for them to create innovative products, as opposed to innovative technology (which those companies do develop).

Technology advances faster than most people want to assimilate it, so the user interface becomes extremely important. You can add a dozen cool new features to your phone, but if they are hard to use, those features won't get used (take note, Nokia). A big difference between Apple and, say Microsoft, is that Apple tries to design what will work for its' customers. Microsoft prefers to convince their customers they should buy their product. It's a huge difference, and the big reason why Apple gets so much attention.

Who is asking for a "surface" computer? Nobody, really. But that's Microsoft's latest "innovation". Who wants an easier to use mobile phone that plays songs and videos, has a wireless network interface, and effortlessly gets your email and voicemail? Probably a lot of people, which is why the media is all over the iphone.

--kgsbca

(To reply, click here.)

Helio? Not even comparable. The Ocean only gets you on the Mobile Web. I don't know but does Slate even have a mobile web page? And what about music. It doesn't use ITunes which for those of us that love our IPod and ITunes is what we also care about. And what about a touch screen. Also not on the Helio. And to switch from typing to a phone call it's looks a little more clumsy that what is being touted about the IPhone. Now it may turn out your right but that Mobile Web issue and the use of ITunes is worth at least another $100 if not more. The touch screen is worth another $100.

And what about service? Helio is only leasing from Sprint What happens if they fold or get squezeed out of capacity. ATT aint' going anywhere so there's another reason to w/ the IPhone.

--jaysurf

(To reply, click here.)

(6/20)

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