After a Rough Delivery, iPhone 5 is My Favorite New Baby
**This post originally appeared at iPhone Life where Adam is a featured blogger.
Well.
I finally got my iPhone 5 a short time ago.
It comes as a great shock to everyone I know (including myself) that I did not have one the instant they became available. Alas, the stars did not align themselves as they should have and I became one of the unfortunate ones, left without a new iPhone.
I felt lonely, confused, naked.
I was afraid to leave the house for fear that everyone I met on the street could see through my pants pocket and know that the phone I carried was but a mere 4S.
Me, Adam Harvey. iPhone Lover. Devotee.
The humiliation, iPhone Life-ers!
But I’m ok now because I finally have my precious (said in my best Gollum voice).
Lots of people say that Apple planned the shortage to manufacture hype, but I don’t think that’s true. This is Apple. They don’t need to manufacture hype. As soon as a rumor gets out that something new may be coming soon, the Internet’s head explodes.
However, the numbers have grown steadily with each launch, so maybe they could have planned things a little bit better. According to an article in Forbes magazine, “the pattern for pent up demand on iPhone releases has intensified over time. The launch of iPhone 4 sold 91% more units than the launch of iPhone 3S; and the launch of iPhone 4S sold 163% more units than the launch of iPhone 4.”
The iPhone 5 sold 20 x faster than the 4S and is predicted to sell 50 million units in the upcoming quarter compared to 37 million in the quarter for the 4S. This is something I believe Apple didn’t expect, so I forgive them for the shortage (especially now that I have my phone).
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk about the fun stuff!
I’ve seen a lot of complaining out there about the 30 pin dock connector, but you know what? That’s been online since 2003. Changing the lightning cable was inevitable and we need to embrace progress. Sorry, everyone who is bummed out about it. That’s just the way of the world. We’re just going to have to suck it up and get new adapters or even replace our old gadgets (New toys!! THE HORROR!).
Soon, there will be cables and connectors aplenty and we’ll all be happy again (until they change it). Even though I don’t mind so much about the adaptors, I’m a little bitter that I can’t get any fun accessories to fit my phone right now. That’s the first thing you want to do, right? BUY TOYS for your TOYS! Alas, there’s not much out there to play with yet. And of course, it doesn’t fit in my Aquabox anymore. I’ll have to get a bigger one. And my battery case is useless to me now. Sigh. Again, this is the price we pay for progress. Many of my other observations are more related to iOS 6, so I’ll just leave you to click on over if you’d like.
For now, I want to leave you with this thought: it’s recently been a full year since Steve Jobs passed. Is he smiling at the recent iPhone 5 launch or is he worried Apple put a ding in the universe in a bad way?
I think it was a rocky launch—kind of like climbing Mt. Everest. It’s a horrible climb and you might die, but it’s a great picture once you get to the top.
Despite the launch though, I think it’s a stellar product.
You guys?