Paul David Olson » iPhone 4Gs

How The Verizon iPhone Could Backfire For Apple

pdo — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 02:36:33 +0000

For years now, owning an iPhone has been like partying at a crowded club: it’s difficult to get accomplish basic tasks (have a conversation, ask somebody out), it’s crowded with people (AT&T’s data lines), and the cover charge is a pain (Yay, tiered data plans!). But there’s a line out the front and a velvet rope and everybody wants to get in. It’s exclusive, and people still want an iPhone. It’s the undisputed top-dog of the phone world; it has the best marketing; everybody recognizes it — it’s a status symbol.

photo credit: petrr

And it’s made into a better status symbol because AT&T’s network is SO BAD, because the only thing better than getting into the best party in town is complaining about how much it sucks, how much better it is elsewhere. Look at me, I have what is widely regarded as the BEST phone and I think it sucks. Therefore, I must be extra awesome.

Verizon changes that dynamic. The price will drop, it’ll actually work, and instead of being a thing greater than a phone, it’ll turn into just another phone. It will lose it’s panache. It will become a product. And that’s bad news for Apple, because Apple doesn’t sell products — Apple sells status. And status only sells if some people don’t get to have it and if those willing to pay for it think they’re getting it.

It’s TRUE?! My iPhone 4G Joke Posts Gets An Update.

pdo — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 15:25:13 +0000

Two months after my iPhone 4Gs joke post, Mashable posts this: Sprint Makes your iPhone 4G.

This can only mean one thing. Apple will release the iJobs CEO robot shortly too. Watch out, world!

Apple iPhone 4Gs Is Coming To … Sprint?

pdo — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 11:59:12 +0000

Boy, listen to the Apple rumor mill and you’ll start to believe there’s a tablet computer in the pipeline … just in time to follow on the coattails of every other computer manufacturer in existence. Yay, a computer without a keyboard … released months after every other competitor has released their version. Revolution!

Listen to the undertones and you’ll here this: The iPhone 4Gs is coming to Sprint.

photo credit: 91RS

Here’s why it makes sense:

The iPhone is getting some serious heat. AT&T is getting some serious heat for their shitty network, halting sales in New York, and general ineptitude. Add in competition from the Nexus One, the Droid, (the) Google, Palm, etc. Apple needs a distraction. Enter the iSlate … a computer so far behind its competitors that it exists only in rumor form. It buys them some time while they sever ties, upgrade, and switch to …
Sprint. Sprint has the the largest (only?) 4G network. The iPhone is a data hog. It needs 4G.
Then there’s the exclusivity … but not the exclusivity you’re thinking. The thing needs to be perceived as rare and premium, so Apple can’t partner with Verizon. Can you imagine what would happen if any corn farmer in Iowa could buy an iPhone? Or if Bob the grave-digger developed a GPS-enabled plot finding app? The iPhone is an exclusive status symbol — it can’t become ubiquitous.
And think about it: the Apple II GS came out twenty years ago. Last year there was the 3Gs … the 4Gs makes sense. And who has a 4G network? The infinite rumor loop continues!

So, there you go. Get your iPhone 4Gs this spring from Sprint.

*This article may be entirely untrue … or is that what Steve Jobs wants us to think?

And think about it: the Apple II GS came out twenty years ago. Last year there was the 3Gs … the 4Gs makes sense. \