I find that remark quite ironic. You say "something as subjective as beauty" of an iPhone, yet your personal taste is decided by Apple. When the iPhone 4 leaked, the majority didn't like it, yet when Apple unveiled it officially, the majority thought it was beautiful. It was the same thing though, only now Apple was saying it was beautiful.
So don't act holier than thou, saying I impose my opinion, when at the same time that is everything that Apple does.
You have an odd definition of irony. Apparently irony is when someone who disagrees with you agrees with the designers at Apple. As for my views being chosen by Apple - I'll not dignify that with a response.
What you seem to not understand is how subjective perception works. Your statement that the iPhone 4 was "the same thing" when it was unveiled by Apple actually underlines that fact nicely. The iPhone 4 design was and remains radical. People didn't get it so they rejected it and said it was ugly. When they understood it they began to realise the elegance of it and the beauty that always follows when function underpins a design. What was ugly became beautiful in their eyes. If you remove the cynical glasses and look at things as they really are this should be no surprise.
Many things are considered beautiful now that were seen as ugly before. That's because people don't like what's good, they like what they are used to. Of course, something truly awful will never become beautiful through the passage of time - it may merely become palatable. Great design, however, frequently looks odd and even ugly at first but then, as people begin to understand it, they come to love it. Something ugly becomes beautiful.
Music is a great way to understand this. Almost every generation hates the music of the generation that comes after. Yet, as people learn about that music, if they are willing to learn, they come to understand it and even to enjoy it. They may never "get it" the way the natives do, so to speak, but to them something that was just ugly noise becomes rather beautiful through a process of learning and understanding. Of course, awful music remains awful.
Apple has a right to "impose" what it thinks of as beautiful because they make the damn things! It's up to them to figure out what they think is wonderful and then to try to convince us they are right. They're very good at this because, frankly, they often are right. I certainly don't agree with all of Apple's design choices. I think the iPod nano has been on the decline since the first generation which was gorgeous and the Shuffle was never a great design as far as I'm concerned. The iPhone 3G and 3Gs are, in my opinion, OK but not wonderful looking devices and not nearly as beautiful as the original. The 4/4s is among the most beautiful designs in a mass produced item in history if you ask me and the new iPhone design looks to be shaping up to be a worthy successor.
You are absolutely entitled to your opinion - I only wish you were more secure in your own mind. If you were more secure in your views perhaps you'd be more willing to engage in discussion instead of engaging in Ad Hominem Tu Quoque, eh?
