Sunday, July 01, 2007

Here's one bit of Steve Jobs hyperbole that I completely agree with: The iPhone will do to mobile computing user interfaces what the Mac did to desktop PCs in the early 1980s. This is the line in the sand, folks. You either get it or you don't.

Then again, one you get past the gorgeous UI, the typically elegant Apple design flourishes, and the unnecessary but attention-grabbing on-screen transitions, the iPhone is flawed, man-made technology. (Just like the first Mac, as it turns out.) The more you use it, the more the device's problems and missing functions become apparent. In fact, the iPhone is a paradox. One the one hand, it has completely elevated the bar for mobile computing to epic, almost dizzying heights. On the other hand, once you've experienced what the iPhone does right--and it certainly is successful in many ways--you become all the more frustrated by what it gets wrong. In other words, its sheer excellence makes you start expecting more.

Labels: Apple, iPhone