[Sigia-l] Another brand of sugar: Apple multi-touch

[Ziya Oz]

Andrew Boyd:

> people touch the screen with their ear while on a call and the phone cuts them
> off or goes to calendar or some other function.

But that randomness is half the fun of using archaic contraptions, it makes
the chore worthwhile. Plus, to make yourself feel better you go buy a
ringtone for three bucks. Genius biz model, if you ask me.

Incidentally, a corp exec who wouldn't know design if it fell on him like a
10 km wide meteorite, today told me that he thought the iPhone looked really
great and that he'd likely get one when it comes out. I made a joke about
his sudden love for Cisco products but that flew by his head real fast.

Over the last five years, the iPod made music fun again for 70 million
people, can the iPhone do the same for mobile communication and computing?
Palm CEO Ed Colligan doesn't think so:

Responding to questions from New York Times correspondent John Markoff at a
Churchill Club breakfast gathering Thursday morning, Colligan laughed off
the idea that any company -- including the wildly popular Apple Computer --
could easily win customers in the finicky smart-phone sector.

"We've learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a
decent phone,'' he said. "PC guys are not going to just figure this out.
They're not going to just walk in.''

<http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/columnists/16057579.htm>

Today's Wall Street answer to Colligan: -5.69%
Also, RIM (Blackberry) : -7.85%

Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division,
made equally daft remarks about the bleak future of the upcoming iPhone in a
post-CES interview, I guess channeling Michael Dell.

Anyhow, the reason I'm citing all this is the sheer obviousness of good
design when made available. And peoples' visceral reaction to it. Also it
makes designers' job so much easier. You put up your presentation slides:

Any MP3 player vs. the iPod
Any remote control vs. Apple remote control
Any one-piece PC vs. the iMac
Any cellphone vs. the iPhone
Etc.

'Nuff said.


Ziya
Nullius in Verba