New Apple Lust Objects for 2010 and onward

also: pr0n

I'm in the same boat as shaane and my question is: which gestures in lion have you turned off? which are awesome?

updating every year is ridiculous, especially for a company that so values "DESIGN"

like isn't "timelessness" part of "design thinking"?

i still like the original curved-back design more than the current edged one

xp: Depends entirely on what you're designing, doesn't it? Given the rapid evolution/devaluation still happening in the computer tech sector, it seems this is a turnover curve that ppl will be riding for some time to come; basically, things will slow down when phones/computers stabilize in a pattern similar to the automotive market, and even there you will still have leasehounds who will want to trade in their old model for a new one every three years.

i can't think of any useful engineering exercise where you want to design something that's obsolete in a year

it's not an engineering exercise, it's a marketing one. Same w/cars.

The big "this is worth me upgrading" changes to cars really only come every 5 or so years, but nonetheless cars get facelifts and changes every year because every year is someone's upgrade year and people who're spending a lot of cash want to feel that they've got something "new" to show for it.

Apple doesn't seem to have realised they're in this position with the phones now too, and they can't fuck about with a two-year cycle, because that means a rotten deal for people upgrading on the down-swing.

EG: You bought the 3Gs when it came out, a year later the iPhone 4 came out and yours looked old and crap.

Finally your two year contract is up, but Apple postpones the update. You don't want to buy a 4 near the end of the cycle, so you wait. New phone arrives, and is just an "s" refresh. That means if you buy it, you'll have barely a year with it before they launch the 5, and you'll be back to carrying an outdated-looking model for a year.

Does the 4s vs 5 matter technically? Not a bit. Does it matter in terms of status signifier? Hugely, and you'd expect Apple to be aware of that.

i agree w/ stet, and it amazes me that people aren't more fed up

like ... why a case re-design for the iPad 2? just so that people will buy new cases?

I get the ipad 2 redesign – I think Apple/Jobs wanted it to be like that in the first place but just couldn't get the thickness down.

You don't want to buy a 4 near the end of the cycle, so you wait. New phone arrives, and is just an "s" refresh. That means if you buy it, you'll have barely a year with it before they launch the 5, and you'll be back to carrying an outdated-looking model for a year.

I think even the most out-of-touch consumers know that an 18 month old phone design is on its way out, and there are a lot of people who just don't care.

Apple's focus is on the two-year contract victims that queued up like rabid dogs for the 3G and the 4, both in (a) servicing them with a whole new phone every two years and (b) not pissing them off.

Does the 4s vs 5 matter technically? Not a bit. Does it matter in terms of status signifier? Hugely, and you'd expect Apple to be aware of that.

Thing is, if you don't want to be on the industrial design bleeding-edge, you can go out right now and buy a 4s with bleeding-edge innards and a case and screen that have been around long enough for all the kinks to be ironed out. That's a massive selling point for some people.

i'm not so concerned about that as i am concerned about how long those innards will last

i agree w/ stet, and it amazes me that people aren't more fed up

idg why people feel the need to be fed up. Unless you (not you you, the generic you) bought an iphone last week and had no knowledge of this week's announcement, you still have the product you paid good money for so suck it up.

I think even the most out-of-touch consumers know that an 18 month old phone design is on its way out, and there are a lot of people who just don't care.

That's what I mean -- in selling the iPhone 4s in the old case they're saying "hey, sign up for a really expensive 2-year contract so you can carry a phone that looks like it's on its way out". That doesn't give people the warm "ooh new shiny" fuzzies that help 'em crack their wallets on a massively overpriced phone.

Apple's focus is on the two-year contract victims that queued up like rabid dogs for the 3G and the 4, both in (a) servicing them with a whole new phone every two years and (b) not pissing them off.

But that means they're equally shafting the two-year contract victims who queued for an OG iPhone and then a 3gs too. Pissing off your super-early adopters doesn't seem wise, either. And they could have avoided it with a new design every 18 months.

That's a massive selling point for some people.

Yeah, but in the grand scheme of ~consumerism~ I think number of "customers who want expensive new shit to look like expensive new shit" >>>>>>> "customers wary of first-gen Apple hardware"

idg why people feel the need to be fed up. Unless you (not you you, the generic you) bought an iphone last week and had no knowledge of this week's announcement, you still have the product you paid good money for so suck it up.

They can be fed up because they're being asked to pay top bux for something that looks 18 months old, I think is the point.

Apple has pretty neatly got around this with the MacBook Pros and iMacs, btw, where the externals change glacially, compared to the industry and the G4 days. There's no privileged class there, except among eagle-eyed super nerds, and who wants to impress them?

Unless you (not you you, the generic you) bought an iphone last week and had no knowledge of this week's announcement, you still have the product you paid good money for so suck it up.

i bought an ipad the year it came out, and then within a year a new ipad came out, effectively splitting the market for ipad cases in two. now, at least half of the ipad cases on the market no longer fit with my ipad.

what if dewalt made screwdrivers with new heads every three years?

But that means they're equally shafting the two-year contract victims who queued for an OG iPhone and then a 3gs too. Pissing off your super-early adopters doesn't seem wise, either.

The 3G was really just a 2G with UMTS and a plastic back, wasn't it? Surely anyone buying a 2G-only phone in 2007-2008 would know what they were getting into? I mean I get the early adopters being pissed off, but they're early adopters so

Yeah, but in the grand scheme of ~consumerism~ I think number of "customers who want expensive new shit to look like expensive new shit" >>>>>>> "customers wary of first-gen Apple hardware"

Yeah I agree, it's only people like my dad who think like that.

They can be fed up because they're being asked to pay top bux for something that looks 18 months old, I think is the point.

imo that's only an argument that works in a monopoly or a vacuum, especially now with HTC and Samsung leading the charge on incredible phone kit. Unless you're so heavily invested in the Apple app store that you stand to lose about $200+ worth of licensed software that you still use, jumping to Android is easy.

i bought an ipad the year it came out, and then within a year a new ipad came out, effectively splitting the market for ipad cases in two. now, at least half of the ipad cases on the market no longer fit with my ipad.

what if dewalt made screwdrivers with new heads every three years?

― funk master friendly (moonship journey to baja), Thursday, 6 October 2011 09:30 (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

That's a fair point. As I mentioned upthread I can't find a screen protector or an armband for the ipod classic I bought last week. Trouble is, it gets murky when you blame Apple/Samsung/Nokia/Sony/iriver/etc for the behaviour of case manufacturers.

The 3G was really just a 2G with UMTS and a plastic back, wasn't it? Surely anyone buying a 2G-only phone in 2007-2008 would know what they were getting into?

I dunno -- I got a 2G iPhone, and I wasn't surprised when the 3G came out a year later. I *was* surprised when the 3Gs was just an internal refresh. Now, though, it looks like they're doing a 2-year refresh and I'm on the bad side of it. Didn't know I was getting into that. Not that I care a lot, but the "Apple lust objects" bit of me would def prefer to get some all-new shiny in return for my price-gouging.

imo that's only an argument that works in a monopoly or a vacuum
Jumping to Android is easy, but then you end up on Android, trying to turn off your wifi before your battery runs out and installing anti-virus.

But either way, I think it's still true. Apple is offering for sale one of the most expensive phones out there, and it looks 18 months old, while the competition are churning out new phones. That should be more pressure for a new form factor, not less.

but then vahid would have to buy a new case

I'm mostly worried that Apple will now stop giving a shit if anything runs well on a single-core CPU.

And you know, buy a Kindle Fire instead! ;)

which is stupid, there is a principle at work in not buying a new case

cases serve absolutely no purpose at all

indeed, so why constantly change them.

Does the 4s vs 5 matter technically? Not a bit. Does it matter in terms of status signifier? Hugely, and you'd expect Apple to be aware of that.

See, this is the bullshit of physical design versus technical capability. Apple manufactures the same form factor for laptops for years, until a significant technological change is afoot or they think it warrants a redesign, and very few complain when their new laptop is the same as the old one.

To me, it doesn't matter a bit whether the 4s looks like the 4, only that it is technologically up-to-date. I mean, in an ideal world, the best fucking Apple phone design ever would happen and we'd spend the rest of our lives taking it in to have the internals swapped out with better once, or to have them repaired when they went bad. That is the timeless design you're speaking of.

To me, the fact that cars change their designs not to accomodate new technology or to be safer or more aerodynamic, etc. is due to a consumer obsession with novelty. I mean, no one wants a 1998 Ford Taurus forever (and the Taurus was the poster child of keeping the same design for a loooong time), but if I could get the design of a Citroen or whatever with the newest engine and tech....

The flip side is it that people who actually know shit about iPhones will recognize the superiority of a 4s in some way, and differentiate them from the plebeians who think you just have an iPhone 4. It's the technology version of people who recognize that some high-end shoe is not the same as a department store knockoff.

BTW has anyone confirmed if the 4s uses the same cases as the 4? That'd be nice.

^^ the only person on ILX who understands me

Do you ever feel mildly annoyed that you're wearing really sweet jeans that will last forever and you can wear their selvedge selves every day and dude on the sidewalk can't tell the diff and then you run into some girl who knows and you have a convo on aesthetics? See these things count.

Also, fuck Apple for this skeumorphic design shit on the Calendar app imo

Also the iOS 5 Music app (no more iPod app!) on the iPad seems to have a little wooden rail on either side that isn't AS BAD but still grates

Apple is offering up to $200 in trade in for your iPhone 4. I bought the iPhone 4 on release, can upgrade for $18 + cost of phone minus the trade in/recycle buy back from Apple. Seems like i'm going to be getting the new model for about $50-100 bucks. Not a bad deal, imo.

My 3gs looks like it went through a small battle so it's probably not worth much these days. I may try to sell it!

my 3GS has a cracked plastic back :[

hurl it at a brick wall

i played with the silent switch one too many times on my 3GS, now it just vibrates all the time for no reason

steve jobs just died

http://twitter.com/AP/statuses/121730495347294208

:(

Fuck cancer.

Also, fuck Apple for this skeumorphic design shit on the Calendar app imo

Probably ironic to say at this juncture (rip) but the Find My Friends app thingo has the same faux-leatherette rubbish theme going, ugh. Just amazing that they think it's a good look, especially after the Games Centre backlash.

does anyone have any thoughts on verizon vs. sprint vs. att?

base-level plan looks like $90 for verizon (thats... a lot), $80 for sprint (unlimited data), right now im on att at around $70/mo (200 mb/mo), but it sucks

Those prices are fucking insane.

Have you ever measured your data for a month (in the settings) to see how much you use? If you don't use video or whatever 200MB might be plenty.

yeah i keep my data under 200 MB on ATT pretty easily

otoh it sucks

iPhone might be Apple's biggest markup yet. When you compare the price of an unlocked handset to a not-that-different iPod Touch, or an iPad, it doesn't work out well. 64gb 4s is not far off a MacBook Air!

I used 2.7 Gb last month somehow

iphone contracts in britain seem so much cheaper than elsewhere. they are obv nuts in the u.s. i thought that was just down to the relative lack of competition, but it's pretty much the same in germany.

awaiting o2s tariffs with bated breath

I have the early Verizon plan w/ unlimited data, 450 minutes, 250 txts and I spend about 97/mo. I don't think I've ever used close to a gig.

if all was equal id switch with verizon but thats an extra $480 over two years so that i can get better service.

sprint would be an extra $240 for better service, but who knows how well their 3g network will be able to handle all the iphones

i suppose the argument to switch to verizon now is that they have the best 4G service and i want to be locked in at these rates when the LTE iphone drops

Just under halfway through the month and I've used.... Good lord! 1.43MB!

how often do people here go over 200MB? i can apparently get that + free weekend calls for €15/month

whoa the two major networks here are selling the 4S unlocked, so you get the contract discount but you can still put in another sim when overseas (which was the reason i was planning to buy from apple)

My usage last year seems to have often gone over 500MB/month, this year it's down to 50 on average. Probably 'cause I used to use Spotify at work over 3G, now I use the work wifi.