Saturday, July 12, 2008

iPhone therefore iAm

I was going to write something about yesterday’s release of the iPhone in Australia, but I have thought better of it. If you are interested in my opinion of those who queued for hours to be some of the first Aussies to join the “groovy tribe” (as Dr. Lisa Dethridge, creative media lecturer at RMIT referred to these people) check out my blog posts from 2006 regarding the frenzy over the opening of the first Krispy Kreme Doughnut stores in Melbourne here and here.

No, I will write something here as I feel like I am the only person who is not falling at the feet of the great Apple god and worshipping it with my hard earned cash. I just question how having something that is so coveted, and soon to be commonplace, makes you individual and cool. Within days we will be seeing iPhones everywhere, negating their perceived coolness, surely the antithesis of coolness is commonness. I make no comment on the iPhones technical aspects here, I am sure that it is brilliant at what it does, and in true Apple style it will continue to break the mould of accepted design. But I don’t think the majority of people will be buying it for these reasons, I think that the iPhone will continue to be popular because people think they are buying ‘coolness’ when in fact they are buying some fantastic marketing.