Detailed Look at the Apple iPhone 3G S
The iPhone 3Gs is the source of nearly endless discussion, debate, news and comment. If it were a celebrity, it would be photographed stumbling out of a bar one night and shaking hands with Nelson Mandela the next. Something as universally popular as the iPhone is a magnet for praise as well as criticism, although it can be easy to dismiss any naysayers as being jealous of the iPhone rather than genuinely put off by it. It is almost impossible to fault Apple’s role in the growth of its flagship product, which has arguably overtaken the iPod as the number one must-have gadget in the world.
At the heart of the success of the iPhone 3Gs and its predecessors is not necessarily the hardware or even the software that makes the whole experience so slick, but rather the paradoxical feeling of being part of a community whilst retaining a firm semblance of exclusivity. Not many people can afford to own an iPhone and when someone pulls one out of their pocket on a train or at a party everyone will crane to see what they are doing, assuming that it must be something important. The fact that they are probably following Stephen Fry on Twitter is beside the point; the iPhone is a talking point and a head turner. And Apple has managed to retain this status for the iPhone despite the fact that they have sold 7 million handsets in the last three months. So since iPhone ownership is not an exclusive club, what kind of magic spell has Apple cast to make people feel included and special at the same time?
The obvious and indeed correct, answer is that the App Store has cemented the iPhone’s popularity and ensured its success. However, this needs to be considered from the point of view of the developers as well as the customers and Apple can almost be seen as a benevolent patriarch helping to generate the feeling of cohesiveness and community by encouraging third party content. Though Apple’s role is perceived to be a little more sinister by some, which we shall come to a little later.
Apple has been so successful with its App Store sales platform that it has managed to condition its iPhone-owning customers into seeing digital content in a very different light to most of the other tech-savvy crowd. The iPhone 3Gs allows users to browse through a library of over 100,000 applications, many of which are free. However, there are also many hugely popular apps for which iPhone 3Gs users have to pay. It’s usually a small amount and a recent study has shown that £2.99 is the perfect app price point at which most people will pay without really thinking about it. As a result, iPhone users have got into the habit of paying for their digital content and this is making a profit for both Apple and the many app developers who have been taken under its wing and provided with a platform from which to sell their niche products.
According to a recent survey, which covered a fairly wide cross-section of people, iPhone users are far more likely to support an increase in the number of paid-for services available online or via their mobile phones. In virtually every case around 10% more of the iPhone-owning respondents would be happy to pay for additional services such as catch up TV or movie downloads featuring the latest releases – far more so than the average mobile phone owner. Considering that catch up TV is something that most broadcasters currently provide free of charge to everyone in the world via online streaming, iPhone ownership seems to be encouraging a habit of payment, disguised as a trend of generosity, which could yet help to save the music and film industries from the ravages of online piracy.
So, this is good news for Apple, for iPhone 3Gs owners and of course for developers, ensuring that the iPhone will continue to be the platform of choice for the best and brightest to try out their new ideas well into the future. However, having mentioned the slightly sinister role of Apple in the proceedings, with a darker agenda lurking behind the friendly facade, this statement deserves qualification.
The App Store on the iPhone 3Gs is explicitly inclusive because of the number of apps available. To suggest otherwise might seem deliberately provocative, but there are a growing number of people who are speaking out against the process by which Apple decides which applications are eligible for sale on the App Store and which are not. Obviously any apps which are offensive, pornographic or might incite hate are immediately rejected. But there seem to be many applications which are rejected for reasons that their creators deem to be arbitrary, confusing and inconsistent. One developer who had his app shunned for no apparent reason has started his own website to chronicle other applications which are unfairly given the boot, thus giving the developer community an independent voice.
The main problem with the iPhone 3Gs is that Apple has total control over the content on offer. There is no wriggle room and those who do not tow the party line could face a kick in the teeth and a forceful nudge towards the door. Whilst elsewhere the world seems to be on the move towards open-source operating systems and co-operation between consumer, manufacturer and software developer, the underlying restrictions of the iPhone could ultimately lead to its downfall. Such speculation could be an exaggeration of the facts as they currently stand, but the internet, inevitably, provides a stage upon which all sides can air their grievances.
Tags: apple, apple iphone 3g s, iphone 3gs