Final week of iPhone pre-launch mania has begun!

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 25 June 2007 18:12

Your IT - Mobility

It’s the final week of pre-launch hype for Apple’s already iconic iPhone, and things are in full swing. IDC says consumers think the iPhone is too expensive, others say that iPhone can’t fail because it’s the Jesus Phone – have we all gone mad?

In any mania, people find themselves going mad before later coming to their senses once again, and in the final days before iPhones are thrust onto the world, first to US consumers, and later to the rest of the world, clear signs of iPhone mania will soon be manifesting themselves in the streets.

AT&T and Apple stores have received instructions and training on how to handle the inevitable queues to be ‘first-in-line’ to own the iPhone, with 2000 extra staff ordered just by AT&T to cope with the expected high levels of consumer interest. Professional ‘iPhone waiters’ are for rent on craigslist.com at US $250 per day.

All that anticipated demand hasn’t stopped some analysts from predicting slow sales, with IDC, quoted by the LA Times saying that only 10% of respondents to their iPhone survey “might buy one at full price when it goes on sale Friday [29 June]”.

Huge iPhone models have gone into the windows of Apple stores, with some having even called Apple’s “Swiss Army Knife”-like gadget the “God Machine” and the “Jesus Phone”.

Of course, owning an iPhone unfortunately does not bestow upon the owner any God-like qualities in real life – iPhone users who are listening to music will still need to pay attention when crossing city streets, after all.

But that said, given the ease with which it would seem the iPhone user interface could be mastered very quickly even by absolute beginners, perhaps being able to wield God-like powers of almost instant intuitive understanding of how to use an iPhone is what the names are referring to.

Being able to test the iPhone’s already legendary but barely experienced user interface is one test I’m very keen to perform. I call it the ‘iPhone Mom test’, or the ‘Mum test’ if you’re not from North America. I’d love to get her an iPhone, load it up with music, videos and photos, show her how to use it and to see just how quickly she picks it up.

My mother currently isn’t a massive user of technology. She has a cell phone but doesn’t really use it. Of course she knows how, but it’s just a small phone with big buttons – it’s not a smartphone in any sense, and aside from seeing ones that I've shown her over the years, she wouldn't know how to use one properly without much more tuition.

So, why is the iPhone different, and what's the final pre-availability iPhone surprise that just might come? Please read on to page 2 for the conclusion!