iPhones And iFools
iPhone
Airtel introduced the iPhone in India for around Rs. 30,000. For this price you can get an awesome computer, a decent laptop or even a motorbike! This price was not surprising to me since all Apple products are overpriced. Only filthy rich people can afford Apple products anyway. Airtel claims that the phone is cheaper in developed countries since they have contracts there that tie to you long term plans and help subsidise the cost. Not convincing. If you buy the iPhone I will consider you a rich fool who doesn’t know what to do with money.
Found an article about a guy who bought the iPhone 3G. I’ve quoted in it full since it echoes most of my sentiments about Apple products.
Cranky Windows Guy: Apple’s iPhone Bugs Stopped Me From Switching to a Mac
Adam FrucciI’ve always been a Windows user, which means I’ve always been subjected to the ridicule of holier-than-thou Apple fans. You know what I’m talking about: blue screen of death jokes, spelling Microsoft with a $ in place of the S, saying “it just works” with a smug, chubby-faced smirk. It’s always been annoying, and it’s always made me want to avoid using Apple products just so I wouldn’t turn into one of those people. But then the iPhone came out, and I wanted it. But I being a Windows dude, I knew to wait a year for what I thought would be a more complete, less buggy version. It was Apple’s opportunity to get me into the fold, to make me a member of the cult. And boy, did they blow it.
I really would love to know where Apple got this reputation of creating lily-white products that never need fixing, created by a company that cradles its customers in fluffy clouds of superior technology. According to my first experiences with an Apple OS, that’s a whole lot of bullshit.
The iPhone 3G is infuriatingly buggy. It crashes. It doesn’t get great speeds when it should, switching to EDGE in areas that have 3G coverage. Coming out of the subway, it takes minutes to find a signal again and stop claiming to get “No Service” in the middle of Manhattan, often requiring a restart. Requiring a restart to get service! What is this crap? And when I do have service, calls still drop and fail all the time. The keyboard lags so much that writing text messages is more annoying than using T9 texting on a number pad. The orientation switching when you rotate the phone is inconsistent at best. Backups take minutes, sometimes hours. Sometimes, the audio output dies and it needs to be restarted to listen to music through headphones. If you’ve got an iPhone 3G or have been reading news on Giz, none of this will come as a surprise to you. What’s surprising to me is how they’re reacting to to the problems.
I called Apple famed customer support to see if they had any solutions for these bugs. Their fix for my problem getting service when coming out of the subway? Turn Airplane Mode on and off. If there’s a more ghetto fix for a problem than that, I’d like to hear it. Last time I checked the C train didn’t have wings. As for when all of these bugs will be fixed, the guy on the phone said “Sooner or later it’ll be working to its full potential.” Oh, great. How helpful. When asked if I could revert to a previous firmware version, I was told to just wait for the next release. Great, thanks for nothing!
Overall, the customer service reps I talked to were friendly, but they’ve clearly been overwhelmed with calls about the iPhone (my average wait time was about nine minutes for the iPhone support number). They’re overwhelmed because they’re the only facet of Apple that’s available to talk about just what’s going on with the iPhone. Officially, Apple hasn’t recognized any problems, only releasing two patches that say they offer “bug fixes” without going into any more detail. It’s the standard Apple technique; giving no information whatsoever unless they feel like it suits them. And this arrogant company causes such heart palpitations in you fanboys?
If you try to go through the PR channels, you get the Apple standard “no comment.” Supposedly, Steve Jobs himself emailed one single person and promised fixes next month. That doesn’t count as an official statement. In fact, that’s worse than nothing at all, because it just shows how little respect Jobs has for all of us. He has time to tell one jerkoff who files a bug report that fixes are coming in September but can’t release a statement that says just that? Screw you, Steve.
When the Playstation 3 got some new firmware that bricked a number of consoles, Sony didn’t keep mum on the subject. They rushed a new firmware out in a matter of days and kept in touch with reporters about what was going on. They even apologized: “We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused you and appreciate your understanding and continued support.” Apple hasn’t acknowledged the iPhone issues to the press, let alone saying sorry for them. Because saying sorry would mean admitting that they screwed up.
The problem is that Apple has this reality distortion field that they use, which is a brilliant handling of PR most of the time. They give out tiny amounts of information, and by being so stingy they make everyone beg and salivate for little scraps But in the end, Apple is just a company like every other company. They screw up, they release things before they’re ready and they botch crisis control. The reality distortion field can’t cover for things like that. Their shit still stinks.
Before I got my iPhone, I was actually considering buying an Apple laptop. Can you believe it? Me, the Windows guy on the Giz staff, thinking of switching. Eventually, when the time comes to buy a new computer, I probably won’t want to jump to Vista, after all. Why not try a Mac?
Now, after this experience, there’s no way I will. I don’t trust the computers to “just work,” and if problems arise I don’t trust Apple to handle them in an open way with customers. In fact, I expect them to try to keep things from me, I expect to continue to feel disrespected by King Jobs and his merry minions. And I’m not alone on this one. What could have been an amazing opportunity to introduce thousands of people to the Apple OS experience has turned people off rather than getting them hooked.
Overpriced
I will never buy Apple products. This isn’t because I am prejudiced but simply because they are too expensive. I don’t give a damn if ‘it just works’ when I can’t afford it!
Overhyped
The hype that becomes before any Apple product is insane! Even if the product turns out to be flop (MacBook Air - no optical drive!) media and fanboys build up the product to extreme heights. I had to turn off the Apple category on Digg to get rid of the iPhone articles clogging up the main page. One in five articles was related to the iPhone.
Hardware Vendor Lock-In
Apple sells hardware and software together. No wonder they can claim their operating system is far superior. They design the hardware and can optimise it for the software. I want to be able to replace the parts of my computer that stop working with alternative parts from the market and not send it to Apple support every time.
Fanboys
This is the main reason I will never buy Apple products. Apple fanboys can be found everywhere. They will defend the company with their dying breath, buy every single Apple product and are basically the only reason for the company’s success. They will refuse to listen to fact and make fun of Windows and Linux users alike with such fanaticism that it annoys everyone else. These are the people that somehow find blog posts that talk about Macs and iPhones and start lengthy discussions on the subject that often beat the word count of the post many times over. No doubt some of them will arrive here and comment on this post. I hope that they don’t.
This kind of hero worshipping behaviour is just annoying. Even though they are a minority the persistence of these fanboys makes people think they are right. I am no Microsoft fan but recently I hate Apple even more since they portray an image of being above criticism which is a position that no company should ever take.
August 24th, 2008 at 1:42 am
The iPhone is not too affordable in the US da. For a 1 year contract, its ~30$ excess of a good Sony walkman phone. 360$ is what you end up paying excess of a Sony walkman
But I do agree Apple goes overboard at times!
August 24th, 2008 at 4:45 am
I am not ashamed to say that i am a Apple fan boy….. I guess u have not used a macbook or an Iphone, thats why you are ranting!
I am not for the 3G Iphone but a mac wins any day. Of course “It works”.
May be when you get filthy rich try using apple products and i am sure you will love it!
August 24th, 2008 at 5:37 am
I have said it time and again that Apple products suck. From what I heard iPod has been returned a lot of times due to failure. I can remember my sandisk player to have caused problems for a grand total of 0 times. Am sure the same goes with sony players as well.
And Mac is equally shitty as well. It’s only the fan boys who claim things to be working. They spend a lot on the build up that they forget about functionality.
Check this out.
http://www.istartedsomething.com/20070226/iphone-smartphone-ad/
August 24th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
That’s the problem. Fanboys shamelessly promote Apple’s overpriced products to everyone. Apple’s products are for the excessively rich who can afford to throw away their money. Macs are not for gamers or people who want to tinker with their machines a lot.
I’m not ranting. I’ve provided solid arguments that you should try to address instead of using fancy phrases like ’superior user experience’ and ‘it just works’.
Even when I am filthy rich I will buy products that provide value for money, not overpriced hardware.
August 24th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Overpriced!- Somewhat a misconception
From a student point of view…
U get a Macbook for $1099 and with the student discount of 100 bucks and a free Ipod touch i don’t think it is overpriced.
Leave aside the offers even then it is worthy for the couple of hundred bucks which you pay extra.
True that Mac Air is for show off.
Of course macs are overpriced in India because Apple doesn’t see a market and most of the peeps think that computer means Windows and Internet means IE.
August 25th, 2008 at 12:42 am
Dude, seriously.
It’s a fucking phone, and it’s a good one which is new and people haven’t seen something like this. A lot of things in this world are overpriced, and quite frankly, I’d rather not fork out thrice that money just to get a few gigabytes of music player and a high res camera because I have fifty gigs of music and not a very pretty face.
At the end, the phone has a bug. The idiot who wrote that doesen’t know, and maybe you don’t either, but writing software is really really reallly complex, and there’ll always be something which doesen’t work the way you’d expect it to.
At the end of the day, I”d just want to say that you’re behaving like one of those fat lesbian feminists who say “We’re beautiful because we’re big, those skinny people are overhyped and they don’t lead fulfilling lives”
I’ve been saying this a lot, but it’s really really easy to talk, but very hard to do. Everyone talks about open source, but nobody knows how hard it is to start contributing to a decent project.
At the end of the day, there’ll be a lot of overpriced and overhyped products, and people rich and dumb enough to afford them without worrying about their freedom(which is again balderdash) and hardware vendor lock in(even more balderdash).
August 25th, 2008 at 2:49 am
Someone here in Mumbai bought an iPhone for 75,000 rupees before it was released in India. Seventy five thousand rupees!
Ramanujam, if you’re going for US prices, if you price out a Macbook vs. a Dell XPS M1330, the Macbook gets wiped. In India, the story is the same. The Macbook is also heavier, has a slower hard disk, and has Intel graphics vs. the more powerful (but still weak) GeForce 8400M GS on the Dell XPS M1330.
In America, see what $1700 nets you on the XPS M1330 and the Macbook back in April. Also, since if you’re going for a 13.3″ laptop you’re looking for portability, the XPS M1330 weighs half a pound less (and a pound less on some configurations). But the Macbook has a backlit keyboard.
The Apple India site is too badly designed to use, but I managed to get this off it:
Macbook White 13.3″
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB memory
160GB hard drive1
Double-layer SuperDrive
Rs.59,500 *
What does the * mean? Taxes and levies extra. Lets assume the minimum - only VAT 4%. That makes the price come to 59 500 * 1.04 = Rs. 61 880
For Rs. 60,007 I got an extra gigabyte of memory, an 8400M GS, lower weight, faster (but lower capacity) hard drive, and the usual next business day and accidental damage warranty. Unless I’m wrong, this should be even less now and you can actually get the newer Intel processors that consume even less power. Oh, and the XPS M1330 looks better.
As a decided money fanboy (this means I value my money very much) I voted XPS M1330. In all honesty, had the Macbook been worth it hardware-wise I would not have refused it. If you claim that OS X is worth it, that’s your prerogative, but I, personally, prefer Ubuntu (primarily because I can’t imagine paying an extra Rs. 1,873 and losing features just to get another OS).
Oh, and if you really think I’m going to pay 43,000 odd rupees and then settle for 1 gigabyte of RAM and a low-end processor, you have another thing coming. That’s about the $1000 Macbook, not worth it either.
There, no anti-Apple talk. Just factses.
August 25th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
If i had 30k, i will get the coolest korean phone just for 5 k, and use the rest of the money for upgrading my comp, and some nice dark sneekers(you know the reason,India!!) and cloths
August 25th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
30K too costly…… Especially in India no chance…. Even though Apple products are good, I am not ready to spend this much money just for a phone…. If a company manufactures one product, it should reach each and every one. Otherwise no use….
August 25th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Anirudh,
It’s a fucking phone, and it’s a good one which is new and people haven’t seen something like this…
…in India.
The idiot who wrote that doesen’t know, and maybe you don’t either, but writing software is really really reallly complex, and there’ll always be something which doesen’t work the way you’d expect it to.
He paid for a working product, not a buggy one. He has every right to make fun of the bugs. No one gives a damn about the people who wrote the code. They were paid to write flawless code. This isn’t open source code that was used in which case bugs could be forgiven.
Why are you even dragging open source into this? Completely irrelevant. Are you sure you understand what we are talking about?
At the end of the day, I”d just want to say that you’re behaving like one of those fat lesbian feminists who say “We’re beautiful because we’re big, those skinny people are overhyped and they don’t lead fulfilling lives”
What? Seriously dude, what have you been smoking?
George, spot on. Read and weep, Ramanujam.
Gowtham, I’d spend the money on a cheaper phone with the same features.
Siva, there are a lot of dumb people in India who would buy this just for brag value. Airtel will make a lot of money fooling them.
August 25th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Well, here’s the word on this pure flamebait post.
I’ve used the phone before, and it’s a nice experience. You took some guy’s hopeless rant, who claims faults when most other reviewers are ready to give it blowjobs, so he attracts all the attention.
And then comes the standard economy and horsepower proof that apple users are pants on head retarded.
As I said before, there’ll be overpriced products that people’l still want to buy. I bought a monochrome screen nokia phone for a thousand bucks last month, and love it like a firstborn, because it does exactly what I want.
So go along people, we’ve seen all of this before. While you’re here quibbing about fanboys and vendor lock-in, people across the world will keep proving that they’d prefer gloss over GPS.
I know there’s no point in trying to convince you. I’ve given up trying to fight these things a long time ago. One of these days you’ll realize how much time went by in just arguing about what’s right and what’s wrong, while people buy more of these, and more stupidified over-priced, but stunningly pretty devices roll out of that factory.
August 25th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Personally, I have nothing against the iPhone (it doesn’t fulfil my needs, and I can block it out of my mind easily), and reading about it just provides me a Wow-they-paid-that-much moment. I have nothing against Macs either, if people will pay that much for those it’s fine by me (though I will have a problem with blatantly saying it’s a better option hardware wise for the price).
What I do take issue with is this:
It wouldn’t change this argument if the bug were trivial, but if audio output dies and requires the phone to be restarted I think that’s big. I think it’s a cop-out to say that software is complex and so bugs happen. A close friend of mine is an orthopaedic surgeon. Surgery isn’t simple, Anirudh, and quite a lot of surgery is much more complex than writing code, requiring thinking on the spot, knowing that sometimes you’re not going to have a second chance. If this friend made a mistake (even a small one that can be corrected with another surgery with no extra complications), he won’t get away with the excuse that it is too complex. And there’s nothing special about that.
When an improperly designed bridge collapses, the engineer can’t hide behind the complexity excuse. Neither can an architect, or a rocket scientist. Designing batteries is tough work, so Sony’s off the hook? The futures market is really complex, so we mustn’t call Kerviel an idiot? To get much closer, designing chips is really complex work, I don’t think anyone was saying that when Intel’s FDIV bug came around.
I can’t think of any software that’s bug-free (and that may just be because I don’t know of much software), but you know what? When I pay Rs. 30,000 I damn well am going to expect a good result. Not something that requires switching off and on, who do they think the customer is? Tom Knight?
Point condensed: I paid for the damn thing. Other people can do their jobs, why can’t the programmer of this machine?
August 26th, 2008 at 12:10 am
If i had 30k, i will not waste a single penny over phones but just have it all for myself
August 26th, 2008 at 1:58 am
Anirudh, if you had clicked the title of the quoted article you would have found that this ‘rant’ was an article on Gizmodo, a respected tech blog. Not some random post lifted off some random blog.
You took some guy’s hopeless rant, who claims faults when most other reviewers are ready to give it blowjobs, so he attracts all the attention.
What are you trying to say? Let’s assume that he was only seeking attention. Does it invalidate all the issues he has raised? Your reasoning eludes me.
Well, here’s the word on this pure flamebait post.
This is a private blog read by people I know, none of whom own an iPhone. I know exactly 1 person who uses a Mac and he doesn’t comment on this blog. Where’s the flamebaiting?
I know there’s no point in trying to convince you. I’ve given up trying to fight these things a long time ago.
Sometimes, things need to be said and fights fought whether they ultimately change anything or not. It is the duty of the people who can think to yell at those that don’t. I wouldn’t expect you to understand.
If you like the iPhone, say so instead of defending it and the people who buy them indirectly.
George, I am fine with people buying the iPhone as long as they are fine with me laughing at them. On other counts, agreed.
Rachel, what’s the point of money if you never spend it?
August 26th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Hey George. Could you please find me a good laptop that costs around 700 to 1000 pounds! Should have a graphic card.
August 26th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Adithya, this model should be suitable for you.
August 26th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Just another phone. Nothing new, nothing special.
August 26th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Adithya, get one from America. The UK has overpriced laptops.
August 26th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Marc, that doesn’t mean i am not going to spend at all. I just don’t prefer to spend on phones. I love to spend on cloths
August 26th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
@Marc
Haha Rick Rolled. People might watch the video if it was titled something else. I wanted to do that to the AT bastard. Was too lazy to download change name and upload it.
@George
I can’t go to the US just to buy a laptop!
August 27th, 2008 at 12:40 am
Marc: Normally I would have spotted uuiU, but bloody electronic gadgets were on my mind. When that happens I click anything.
Adithya: Get someone to get it for you, trust me. The UK is a rip-off.
September 7th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Heh heh I totally second your article.
Jobs spends just too much time on Marketing (instead of R & D)