Categories: uncategorized
Date: 21 September 2012 12:47:03
A dinosaur wandered into a shopping centre and got inquisitive is the alternative title for today's post about the launch of the iPhone 5. 10:30 am on a Friday morning in Milton Keynes is not the time you would automatically expect to see a queue of about 100 people waiting in line with that expectant buzz which such lines of people have. My initial thought was a celebrity or a very special offer but then my eyes saw that there was a second smaller pen of people who this queue was waiting to be forwarded onto and it was outside the Apple store.
Having read Walter Issacson's excellent biography on Steve Jobs (and not having lived entirely on my own little planet for the last few years) I realised this was the launch of a new product. Being a bit dim I went up to one of the bright young 20 somethings dressed in blue t-shirt with modest apple logo embossed, jeans and casual footwear to ask what was being launched today. I was given the answer the i Phone 5.
I retired to Tea Monkey (which does the best value and best tasting pot of Earl Grey in MK I think) and took a seat where I could observe the crowd, (occasionally diverting my gaze to read a chapter of my paper copy of Dorian Grey - this months bookgroup read).
They were I saw predominantly but by no means exclusively male. The ethnic mix was well distributed between white and Asian, but the Afro-Caribbeans were noticeably absent. They main age range looked to be about 25 - 45. None of this crowd fitted the stereotype of geek and were almost all were casually dressed. Whether the mix would have been different if I had been in the centre at 7:30am and seen the initial queue, (some of whom had apparently been there from 10pm the previous evening waiting for the 8:00am opening), I don't know.
The queue was fascinating to observe. Some stood nonchalantly waiting, some chatted to friends or family, some had eyes down, fixed on the technology they already owned and one had a novel which she was reading. Occasionally, one would raise their phone or i-pad and take a picture.
After I'd finished my brew I decided to walk over and take a look at the scene immediately outside the store. The first queue were being escorted into this final place of waiting in groups of 15 - 20 and were split into contract and sim only purchases. Finally, they were ushered in by a young lady who had added a lovely woolen hat to the t-shirt, jeans and Converse look. This modern version of the bright young thing, equipped with i-pad and walky talky, greeted and directed in the manner of a stage manager preparing an audience for a media recording. It was fascinating.
After a while I got the chance to ask one of the Apple Store guys who was marshalling the queue what was special about the product. He said I could go in and take a look, advising the young lady on the door what I was doing. I went and stood for a moment with others who had just gone in to take a look. I was reading the features as I heard the couple next to me say "Wow" as they picked it up, apparently the lightness which is noted by Apple as a key feature really is something special.
Now as a dinosaur who still has a bit of techno-phobe within her I have to admit that was one of the few features I fully understood. I get the words "thin", "light" and "fast" but beyond that I more than a little lost. So anyway I picked up the phone being a bit unsure what you do with it to try and find out what's actually so special about it and why in the mist of a recession people might actually decide to spend significant amounts of money to buy one.
I'm the sort of person who hasn't been overly impressed by the way everything seems to have got thinner in recent years because often thinner has felt like flimsy and more likely to have a limited life span. But this does feel different. It is very light and thin but it doesn't feel flimsy in fact there was something almost sensual going on with it as you hold it.
Then I had a bit of a play around having followed the instruction of how to unlock it, something I've struggled with in the past with slide phones. I've been very resistant to the idea of modern touch technology wanting buttons separate to the screen but this seemed ok. The squares on the screen were big enough for me to feel safe in what I was doing. The clarity of the colour also helped. Even though I have a tendency to be nervous with new technology and normally have to be initially helped through each stage with a new product I come into contact with I could work out what I was doing with this without help.
I am not sure if I could ever justify the cost of one of these phones but I know that one day I'd like one and when I manage to get a new job want to start saving. I like the thought that you could sit on a long train journey watching a film, listening to an i-pod, checking your email, or simply texting using one machine which is so much smaller and more convenient than lugging a whole computer with you. I'm not sure if you can load MS Office onto the phone. If you can then I'd definitely like to invest in one. Being able to write a sermon easily in a coffee shop or on a train using a machine which is truly portable, and being able to watch You Tube clips and immediately embed them into PowerPoint slide or such like appeals to me.
I think the Luddite observer with her simple phone intended simply for texting, phoning and setting an alarm may just have gone native this morning and been converted to modern technology.