Don’t call it a come back
You know, I have never been the one to complain about progress. My dad always says stuff like "I don't call it progress I call it regress". For someone in their 50's that grew up with things being a cetain way and watching small towns become swallowed by large cities I can understand why he would say that. but I never agreed with him.
Last week at work I ordered some software from one of our vendors and I was expecting an email back with the license key and a link for a direct download. This is how the majority of distribution is handled these days, mostly digital. Even though I am in an enterprise environment this same trend can be seen at home, with video games and all sorts of software. Every major software vendor has the availability to download your product through services like Steam. This is GREAT! Less cardboard in land fills, less overhead for vendors. This vendor did not send me a link, but an actual package that arrived two days later. As I sat with this box of software in my hands I wondered to myself "Why in the hell didn't they just give me a download?" but as I opened the box I was immediately reminded of my childhood. When I was growing up we used to have to go to buildings to buy stuff. We would shop for video games by looking at the box art, and these boxes were BIG. These boxes had a very distinctive smell, I'm sure it was just ink on the cardboard and game manual. I really miss the feeling of getting that box, holding it in your hands all the way home reading the back of the package over and over again, then after getting home finally tearing into it and reading the instruction manual while the software/game installed. Meanwhile, the whole time there's this very distinctive new software smell that is akin to new car smell.
I'll never forget those days. I'm usually pretty progressive and current with things but I think this is the first time in my life that I am unwilling to change with progress. As long as distributors still send box copies of games to stores I will buy them. For as long as I am able I want to open that box and smell the noxious fumes of industrial ink and packaging while I'm being asked for CD2 of 5. I want to read the game manual while the installation program flashes screenshots on my monitor. Maybe it's the kid in me refusing to die. Well I don't want him to die either so no, this is not progress to me, this IS regress. When my kids grow up and laugh at me for still going to a STORE to buy a BOX. I'm going to jump in my 1968 Mustang, drive my ass to the store, buy the game of the month and when I get home and they are already playing I'm going to feel sorry for what they are missing out on.
iPhone 4 and iOS4 – This is why Apple is genius.
When Apple released the original iPhone in January of 2007 they knew exactly what they were doing. They knew where the device would be in three years. The original had a 2 megapixel camera, no flash, impossible to take photos in low light situations, no multitasking capabilities. The 3G model seemed to have have some hardware upgrades, updates to motion sensing but it was more of an iPhone 1.5 than an iPhone 2. The 3GS is where the real marketing genius starts becoming more apparent. Again, the 3GS appeared at the time to be more of what the 3G should have been, making it the iPhone 2, instead of a true 3rd generation device. At this point we still have no flash and no multitasking, however we did get an upgrade on RAM to 256mb and upgraded processing power, but overall the general consensus was that there was not much of a difference.
Now, we have the iPhone 4 and the new iOS4. The iOS4 is the new Operating System shipped with the iPhone 4, and it became available to all previous iPhone 3G and 3GS users (as well as the iPod Touch) today. Right about now you're probably asking me to get to the point. Well here's the marketing genius of it all; Multitasking will only be available to 3GS and iPhone 4 users. Now we understand why they would release the 3GS with upgraded processing power, but very little noticeable difference. 3G and all previous versions of the iPhone will be discontinued. Not only has the release of the iPhone 4 driven sales for brand new devices, it has also driven sales of the 3GS, which will soon be the only previous generation iPhone available. Can't afford an iPhone 4? The 3GS will soon be $99, and it multitasks! (finally) There has been absolutely no reason for them to give us a flash or multitasking until now. The big competition is the Droid Incredible, and the new iPhone has all of the same features as Verizons new devices, and more.
I'm calling it now. iPhone 5; Expandable memory.
There are a ton more differences between the 3GS and the iPhone 4, I have only touched on a couple of them to point out that Apple had a very in depth and layed out marketing strategy. Check out the following videos to learn more.
Pre-Order iPhone 4
Pre order your iPhone 4 now through an AT&T store, or online.
I did!
UPDATE: I tried several times to order online with no success, the website was up and down for hours. When I finally gave up and went into a store I found a hand full of people waiting in line. Strangely enough they were not there to order an iPhone 4. As I was waiting in line I chatted a bit with one of the salesmen. He told me they have taken around 35 orders today and he said it as if they was a large number. Maybe it's because I live in Tampa and the store I was in is located in Lakeland, but 35 orders doesn't seem busy. I'm sure if I was in a store in my home county the number would have been much higher.
Anywho, when it was my turn it took less than 10 minutes to place the order which had me in the AT&T store (which face it, should be renamed to the iPhone store) no more than 20 minutes. What's the moral of the story here?
Don'ts
- Don't be the douchebag that wakes up at midnight to be the first one to pre-order something.
- Certainly don't be the fanboy that camps out the day of release.
Do's
- Wake up to go to work, pack your lunch. Take your lunch break at a normal time.
- Eat your sandwich on your way to the AT&T store.
- Stroll in around noon or so after all the early adopting Apple fanboy pukes have crashed the servers and they have had time to recover from it.
- Order your iPhone with no frustrations.
- Wait for it to come in the mail. Eat some cheetos while you wait, it's a special day.