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Criticizing Criticisms, Part 1 of 5

by Marc Zeedar macopinion@designwrite.com

As a student of sociology and technology, the iPhone phenomena is fascinating to me. I've been reading everything I can find about the iPhone lately. What's remarkable is how consistent all the reviews and commentary have been. They pretty much rehash the same limitations and criticisms (many without any deep analysis).

Sure, most praise the fantastic interface, but even there most fail to grasp the real significance. (A few have compared the iPhone to the breakthrough of the original Mac OS and I say that's getting closer.)

So let's take a look at the popular criticisms of the iPhone and see what they really mean.

We'll begin by looking at a comment I wrote in a previous column:

If you look at the criticisms of the iPhone, 99% of them are things that only matter to power users.

That should give you my perspective. Though I consider myself a power user -- I've hardly watched live TV since 1988 when I got my first VCR and figured out how to time-shift by using it to record shows -- I am well aware that the vast majority of people are not me and would not put up with technical hassles that I will. Thus I'm always putting people into categories of the technical (a handful of us) and the non-technical (99% of the world), and when I comment on technology, I take that into consideration. What works or doesn't work for the technophile does not mean the technology is appropriate for the average person.

One final aside before I begin my analysis: just because I'm criticizing iPhone criticisms, that does not mean the iPhone is flawless. I will cover iPhone flaws in a different article. Besides, if you disagree with any of my contentions, that's what the feedback comments are for!

So let's take a look at some of the common criticisms of the iPhone. We'll start with the low-hanging fruit and get to more essoteric criticisms later.

The iPhone is expensive.
This is a joke. I'm not saying the iPhone is cheap, but in the world we live in there ain't no free lunch. Everything costs something. Price is relative.

From my perspective, just about everyone in the world drives a more valuable car than me. But I just can't imagine spending $30K or more on a vehicle. Even $20K is steep. I just want something safe and reliable. I don't need a Lexus.

Something is expensive when there's a comparable product available for less. A Lexus is expensive compared to other high-end brands. In the case of the iPhone, there is no comparable product. Yes there are other cellular phones out there, even Internet-capable phones: but none has the iPhone combination of ease-of-use, unique interface, simple computer syncing, built-in iPod, Apple design esthetic, and Mac OS X foundation.

I certainly agree that the iPhone is a high-end product. But look what you are getting: the largest and highest-resolution screen ever for a mobile device, unprecedented software, much higher memory capacity than most phones, built-in camera, WiFi, and Bluetooth, sensors for rotation, light, and proximity, long battery life, a tough glass screen (most devices use cheap plastic), the Apple logo, and Mac OS X (that's a hundred bucks right there).

One must also keep in mind that iPhone combines several devices in one. If an iPod is worth $250 and a smart cell phone $200, that leaves $150 for the operating system, software, and Internet functionality. Not a bad deal. And don't forget that an iPhone -- because it's an iPod and WiFi Internet device -- has significant resale value even without cellular service.

Okay, the iPhone itself is worth the price, but when you tack on the monthly cellular bill, the true cost is $2000 and that's expensive.
Again, I won't say that owning an iPhone is cheap, but blaming network costs on a device is ridiculous. Blame AT&T, not Apple. Blame all the carriers. They are the ones jacking up the prices and ripping people off. The reality is all cell phone plans are outrageously expensive and the industry standard is to lock people into absurd multi-year contracts. That's not Apple's fault. It's unfair to blame the iPhone for the industry's flaws.

The truth is that the iPhone service plan is remarkably reasonable. It's hard to find any cellular plan (short of pre-paid) that is less than $40 a month, so the iPhone is really just an additional $20. For that you get unlimited data service. That's not such a bad deal -- most other carriers charge double that. Yes it might be nice if the iPhone was available without it, but iPhone without Internet is a crippled device, and I can see why both AT&T and Apple do not want that.

Besides, most people are already accustomed to paying their regular cellular bill, so for most the iPhone is a few dollars more a month. For some switching from other networks and used to paying $40/month for data, the iPhone cost is actually less!

The two-year contract with AT&T is unfair.
I don't like the idea of the two-year commitment, but it's really not that big a deal. People commit to these all the time and have long since stopped worrying about it. The early termination fee is about three months of service, so if you really got into a financial pickle it might save you money to terminate instead of continuing to pay the service fee every month.

Besides, as people have posted on the Internet, there are simple ways to activate your iPhone without a contract if you don't want the commitment. (The simplest is to enter all 9's as your social security number so you fail the credit check and go on AT&T pay-in-advance plan.)

macopinion@designwrite.com