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News From Apple's iPhone Event
Apple is currently announcing various things about a new iPhone; the CNN Live has coverage as it is happening. Watch for updates as more information comes in. For those of you who like to read instead of watch, PC Magazine is^W was^W is running a live commentary stream (it broke and then unbroke). The New York Times also has a working live stream which seems more reliable.
Update: 10/04 19:04 GMT by U L :Unexpectedly, Apple did not announce an iPhone 5, but rather an incremental update. CNet has a decent article about the features of the iPhone 4S. Additionally, all major carriers except T-Mobile will be getting the phone October 14th.
Twitter reports that /. has a thread that says that CNN has some info about some iPhone stuff.
A marvel of modern communication
I'm shocked, utterly shocked. Oh, not about anything in the presentation, I'm shocked that Slashdot actually got this story up when the event was happening and didn't link to a recording three days from now.
Maybe we could wait until the announcement is finished for the story to get posted.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
Sales of ironically overlarge non-functional fashion glasses, skinny pants, and funny hats will concomitantly go up in direct proportion to iPhone 5 sales.
Yeah, Apple has to be a bunch of idiots to drive the smartphone and tablet markets like they do. And everyone who would use such a product is clearly retarded.
Dr. Bob missed a perfect opportunity to inform us how chiropractic can cure the ills of carrying a giant chip on your shoulder.
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But why oh why must there be a slashvertisement for a media event to build hype and excitement? Whatever the product, let's wait until a few facts can be gleaned and the hype-blurb safely ignored.
We might as well just demand equal hype for Dr. Bob's iChiropractic iApp for iOS which will iChange your iLife for the iBetter. It would be as reliable and accurate as the typical media event surrounding the launch of a mass-market consumer product.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
Quick! I need to click the link for the Apple story, then post about how I don't care! This is a great use of my time!
MABASPLOOM!
You seem to be having a difficult time with that.
"Sacrifice for the good of The State" - The State
Apparently, to get the live CNN video feed, I have to install the Octoshape Grid Delivery Enhancement to Flash. No thanks. If I don't install it, I get the stream starting at the beginning.
If I used a sig over again, would anyone notice?
No one forced you to ready the story. You clicked on it.
So, Slashdot brought you a story you wanted to read, which just happened to be created by the marketing department at Apple.
You complain about it, but here you are.
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You forgot the "Lame" at the end of your post.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
A year and a half later, all that they can offer is a slightly better camera, faster CPU, and universal (GSM+CDMA) mobile. :(
Most people including myself were hopefully for the thinner design, larger edge-to-edge 4 inch screen, metal back, NFC, 3D glassless display, 4G wireless data, etc. that were mentioned in the iPhone 5 rumours/hype. What a huge let down. No innovative must have features offer! Definitely not worth an update over the popular iPhone 4.
It also sucks that you still can't play video podcasts in the iPod Nano like you used to 2 generations ago!
In fact this entire iPhone+iPod refresh really is a big disappointment for me. I guess Apple does not think that hardware innovation is important anymore! What a great way to disappoint your fans, and have them look at other platforms that at least have some more frequent hardware improvements.
Cue dickheads making derogatory statements about iOS device owners for no good reason other than an assumed - and misplaced - feeling of technical superiority.
"The camera app is now accessible from the lock screen. Double-tap the home button and you can go directly to the camera app, no password or anything required."
Hmmmm......
what, does your nikon or canon require a password?
Nonsense... this just shows your cluelessness. If you want a stock that does nothing but go up, then I have stock in Unicorn Inc. I'll sell you.
Fact: AAPL has been consistently going up for ages now. They have a great lineup now, and for the foreseeable future. They have a ridiculous amount of cash on hand, and time-and-time again the bitching of /.'rs preaching the "Apple is doomed" mantra has been proven wrong.
So it goes down 3%. BFD! Considering how high my AAPL holdings have gone up since I bought a bunch more - during the 2008 meltdown - ignoring the whining and bitching from folks like you about wasting my money, I am quite happy with the current level and after phantards like you finish your weekly anti-apple propaganda, the stock will continue to lead the industry. Continue ranting, I'll continue cashing in. Buh-bye...
The Onion's story was an excellent summary of the event in advance I believe.
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
It's pathetic, isn't it. In the Slashdot of old, there would be a lot of people dissecting the new features, especially Siri and the new camera, comparing those features to competitors (objectively), maybe explaining the prior art or comparative products that exist. There would still be a lot of criticism, but by and large most of it would be of the objective kind. The slashdot of now? A bitter cesspool of trollish negativity.
Actually, I'm not surprised at all, and kind of wish the fanboys who are raging that the new phone doesn't shit rainbows and have a '5' in its name would sell off more of their stock and depress the value even more so that I can afford to buy some AAPL for myself.
There was one, and only one mega-fail here. It didn't happen today. It happened when Apple made their announcement of "Let's talk iPhone" and then failed to keep expectations within line. Everybody has now been buzzing about the dual iPhone 4S/iPhone 5 announcement for the past couple of weeks. Without an iPhone 5 announcement to be made today, Apple needed to kill that rumor DEAD. Instead, they've managed to totally underwhelm the world with a new product launch for a fine incremental update for something that would have looked fairly decent if examined in its own light. Mr. Cook, I'm sorry to inform you that you just flunked the oral portion of your CEO marketing exam and that the board is likely soon going to be announcing your imminent departure from the top spot. Nice knowing you.
Listen to what I say, not what I mean...
Well, here it can be fun to watch people traffic in stereotypes (and weird oxymoron ones, like mainstream hipsters).
On news sites it's depressing because there is discussion of actual important issues, as opposed to what gadget someone watches their German BDSM porn on (not tat I know about any of that, no sir, not me). On the Right sites it's all "Obama am teh anti-Jesus" and on the Left sites it's all "If your child shows any desired to be a businessman, kill it immediately, for it is evil, and unclean in the sight of Gaia."
And, yeah, I know I just picked on using stereotypes, but my two goofy examples are not *that* far off the mark for some sites.
My favorite this month was some women hating on the new My Little Pony for making the ponies "slim and sexy" and wanting to know where the fat ponies were.
"Eaten by wolves because they can't run as fast," I responded. They were not amused. :-)
You could try Sprint? I'm not saying they're better (in fact from my experience there is a good reason they're failing) but you could get the iPhone without dealing with ATT or Verizon.
I'll meet you at the intersection of "Should be" and "Reality"
Is this really any different than Apple's strategy all along? Come out with a phone, and make incremental improvements each year. Every other year (except for 1-3g jump) has been the major refresh mark. If you come out with a majorly new product each year, you stand to alienate your customer base -- the majority of customers will balk at feeling pressure to refresh their devices every year. This puts people on a 2-year track, which also coincides with the term of carrier contracts.
And face it, Apple has never attempted to cater to the device geek market, except maybe with the very first iPhone (and that's a stretch). Instead, they have focused on enhancing features that are important to everyday use, often centering around a single aspect. In this case it's battery life and form factor. It may be lacking 4G, but you will make it through the day on a single charge, without having to do much, if anything, to optimize battery usage. And it will fit pretty comfortably in your pocket.
That's been Apple's MO with all their products -- make consumer-grade devices that do the important things well, and leave other competition for the early adopters. I like a lot of the Android phones, but I wish one of them would take a similar strategy and make them accessories as opposed to focal points -- take a break from cramming new features in and turn attention to gaining energy efficiency and making the things smaller.
The only comments I've seen regarding Siri claim that Android has had it for 2 years now. If they are talking about about voice recognition to dial numbers and play songs, then Apple has had that for years as well. If Android has had conversational, contextual voice recognition that seamlessly integrates all the core apps plus external information sources allowing the user to speak naturally, then a lot of marketing dweebs in several companies should be fired because I've never heard of it.
Anyway, I can't wait to see how Siri works in the real world. If it works even half as well as the demo, it seems like a big deal to me. As in "killer app" big. Truthfully I was confused by the audience's staid reaction, I don't think understood how awesome the potential of it is.
Yeah, I sound like a fanboy.
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