Journalists Get Goofy over the iPhone
While we journalists are a skeptical lot most of the time, we've totally lost it, it seems, over the iPhone. The media coverage of iPhone has seemed like a tsunami. And NPR wasn't immune from it.
In fact, judging by the coverage on NPR alone, you would have thought someone had found a cure for cancer -- not created an overpriced piece of technology. (I counted at least 14 pieces in the last two weeks in our search engine.) There was a review for Morning Edition last week by David Pogue of The New York Times (who called it "flawed, but absolutely beautiful"), along with stories about the business, marketing, cultural impact, hype and humor of the iPhone.
An analyst quoted in the Financial Times points out that journalists started by giving Apple chief Steve Jobs a pass when he announced the iPhone several months ago: "If the chief executive of Nokia had stood up and said he was launching a phone that was big and heavy, had no keyboard, was only 2G and not available for six months, he would have been crucified," says Ben Wood, an analyst at CCS Insight. "It is unique that Apple have been able to get away with that."
But, in the end, who cares about what journalists have to say about the phone's features and how it works? As Neil McIntosh, the blog guru at The Guardian, says on his personal blog, Complete Tosh, "Few iPhone buyers will be making a rational judgment on feature set when they buy one - brand, design and wow factor come first."
In other words, no one gives a Fig Newton if the thing even works right now, they just GOTTA HAVE ONE. (See this Opus cartoon for an example of what I mean.)
According to Marketplace Morning Report, Apple sold just over half a million iPhones over the weekend. One person apparently bought one for $12,000 online. (The phones cost $500 or $600 in stores.)
Personally, I'll stick with my regular old cell phone for a while. I'll pay $600 for an iPhone when it can also do my laundry. What about you folks? If you have one, what is it like? (Morning Edition says it's getting mixed reviews.) If you want one but don't have one, how much would you be willing to pay?
11:56 AM ET | 07- 2-2007 | permalink
