Popular Mechanics has a blog. Well good on them, but who the hell is writing this stuff?
“So here’s the real question: For the geek counter-culture out there, the ones with the Jail-broken iPhones, the ones tapping away at Etch-a-Sketch and retro games like Ice Climber, is it still worth it? As the iPhone becomes more of a genuine tablet, with a major operating system upgrade and the potential for powerful, mass-market applications like Word and Photoshop down the line, is it time to come in from the cold? I haven’t even mentioned the improved Maps application, with its fake-GPS and streamlined interface, or the ability to stick rented movies from iTunes onto your iPhone. Love it or hate it, Apple is supporting and expanding existing iPhones, instead of simply selling new ones”
A Tablet?
A Major OS Upgrade?
Word and Photoshop?
Are you kidding me? How much did Apple pay you to write this sensationalist article?
Lets get some facts straight. The iPhone hacks enabled all these types of features our mystery writer has applauded Apple for incorporating. The ability to edit your menu’s, install third party apps, and have a device that does what YOU want it to do – that was all enabled by the community; Not by Apple. To sort out that other ridiculous commentary, why would Word ever be a killer app for a phone? Photoshop? If I was going to draw on my iPhone how would I do it? With a mouse? No! You would you multi-touch, just like the Etch-A-Sketch application does. How many people take photos with their phone and go “If I could only apply a transparency mask and some gaussian blur, right over… here”?
The iPhone is a platform with some amazing and unique features, but it should be viewed as a platform for innovation, not a delivery mechanism for Apple’s new media conglomerate. It’s not ushering in a new generation of applications by Apple, its simply given people a platform to exercise their creativity.