Maybe the Apple was Just Bruised

After reading Steve Jobs’ open letter addressing the legions of upset iPhone customers, he may have turned a bad situation into a positive one.

After reading Digg comments to his open letter, he seems to have placated most of the mob.

Never Mind

Yesterday I warned you about making an early iPhone purchase in a blog called Tomorrow’s Lesson Today .

Never mind. I just visited my Apple Store and played with one.

I want one. I don’t care if I don’t have any service.

Actually, one thing I didn’t warn you about is the error prone iPhone activation process (the carrier’s fault, not Apple’s) which is providing a buzzkill for new iPhone owners.

Tomorrow’s Lesson Today

I expect that the most blogged topic for today, will be the iPhone launch. The crescendo has been building for 5 months now, ever since Steve Jobs demoed the iPhone at MacWorld.

The TV ads have been fantastic. The amount of free buzz on the cable news outlets, late night talk shows and virtually every other media outlet has been phenomenal.

Combining the Internet, cell phone and iPod…. Genius.

Obviously the form factor and UI (user interface) is iPhones main draw. Apple has once again demonstrated its expertise in crafting a simple, straightforward touch screen interface, that pleases the eye and pleases the touch. After all, its what Apple does best.

They’re introducing us to a new lexicon of touch commands; cover flow, scrolling, pinch out, double-tap – all cool, intuitive ways to access information and features.

Add to this many other eye-candy features, like a built-in accelerometer, which displays the images in regular or landscape form, depending upon which way you’re holding the device and you have a real winner. And let’s not forget REAL full feature web browsing.

If the pre-sales line ups are any indication, Apple has a real winner on their hands.

Except for one small problem. And it’s called AT&T.

Yes friends, for all of iPhones built-in functionality, it’s usability depends upon it’s sole carrier, And that’s the lesson all the avid fans will discover tomorrow, once the hype starts to die down.

No matter how cool the device, if I can’t get a signal inside my house, I’ve just purchased a $500 paperweight.

And that is tomorrow’s lesson today.