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Random Things I've Learned about our Culture from this iPhone Launch

J

jakeacc

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 28, 2008
185
0
1. We are a very materialistic society. It's sad to see so many people spend their precious free time for hours/days of their life for a cell phone, but some of those people say they don't have enough time to register to vote, donate to charitys, etc, spend quality time with their children/spouse/parents

2. We like to complain. 90% of the posts that have been made to this site in the past 48 hours have all been complaints. Some complaining that they had to wait hours among hours in line. (no one forced them to wait in line) Some complaining about the incompetence of ATT and Apple during this launch. (no one forced them to attempt to buy the phone at launch) Some complaining about the prices of their monthly iPhone bill or the lack of features the iPhone has. (no one is forcing them to buy an iPhone - in fact, there are 100s of other phones available to buy right now)

3. We can be rude. I was standing in line today at AT&T and this tiny 19 year old female ATT employee comes out and announces that they are out of black 16 GB models and only have 1 white 16 model. One guy starts yelling at her because had been waiting there for several hours. He demands to know how many 8 GB models are left in the store and she said that she isn't allowed to give that information. He continues to yell at her and what a waste of time this has been for him. I felt really bad for that employee. Obviously, it wasn't her decision to not disclose their stock numbers. That decision was made by someone up top - probably Apple. I waited in 3 different lines today, but I never raised my voice or disrespected any of the Apple or ATT employees. It's not their fault that lines were slow, activation process was inefficient, or iTunes servers were crashing. And even if it were their fault, it is no reason to treat them poorly. Everyone of us who stood in line yesterday or today (or will be going back tomorrow) did so on their own free will. If we wanted a process that was smooth, fast, and efficient, we would have waited 2 or 3 weeks from now.

4. We feel entitled. I've been reading some of the message board posts and am actually surprised at how childish, angry, and spoiled some people are. Things like "How dare they not tell me that I'm only allowed to buy a maximum of 3 iphones for a Family Plan" or "I'm not going to buy an iPhone because I'm mad at how long this iTunes activation process has taken". Seriously? If the number of phones you can buy, or time you lost waiting for activation, or coming home with a preorder voucher or emptied handed is your biggest problem, then you are very well off. There are people who will never be able to afford a cell phone, let alone have enough money to find food. In a world with death, sickness, war, and poverty, some of you need a reality check and need to rethink your definition of a "bad day".

5. We are stubborn. It was a bad move for Apple to release the 2.0 firmware for iPhone 1.0 , 3G customers, and iPod Touch users all on the same day. But it wasn't the end of the world. When it became public knowledge that the iTunes servers were crashing due to everyone trying to activate their 3G iPhones or upgrade their 1.0 software, the reasonable thing for everyone to do would have been to take a deep breath, go on with your life for a few hours, and then try again. But, a big majority of people just sat at their computers, pluggin in their iphones, getting error messages, unplugging it, and repeating the process over and over and OVER again. These people made the problem go from bad to worse. With everyone constantly trying to get their phones updated/activated ASAP, they changed what could have been a downtime of an hour or two, to an entire day. That's being stubborn. That's either not thinking or not caring about the overall effect of your actions just so you can get instant gratification.

I'm not trying to make fun of anyone or say that I'm better than any of you. I have been checking Apple message boards/news sites every day for about 6 months waiting for the new iPhone. The hype and wait for this product was surreal. A lot of us wanted it to come on June 9th at WWDC, but were told to wait a whole month. I had been wanting one so bad for so long that I had it embedded in my head that FINALLY on July 11th, I could be using my very first iPhone. But after reading some of the blogs about the launch lines, I decided to wait until today. When I arrived at the Apple store and was told it would take 5 hours to get in, I decided that 5 hours of my Saturday was not going to be spent waiting in a line. I cherish my weekends and my free time that much.

Sorry for the very long post. No need to start getting defensive. I was just making some general observations about this whole ordeal.
 
Great ppost, I agree with all of it even though admittedly I think I hit all 5 of those. :eek: :(

I'm going to wait it out a few weeks... if stuff hasn't been sorted out by then I am jumping ship to some other phone.
 
yea.... this is why most of the world hates us... 90% of americans are whiny, unappreciative idiots. it's so incredibly easy to make money and have a fantastic life here and most people show no appreciation for it. this should be stickied...
 
When I first read your post, I kind of agreed, but then after thinking about it some more - I think you're being unfair. I know you don't want to come across as judgemental or smug, but your post clearly is.

The reality is that EVERYONE has some vice in life, some hobby that they devote way too much time to etc. For people who post on this board, cell phones or tech gadgets are their chosen hobby, and this is the ONE place that we can all bitch an moan and discuss every little detail. We can talk about things here that the real people in our lives would die of boredom if we talked about with them.

So, what I'm trying to say is ****!
 
Actually decent enough post, but you -just- realized this with the iPhone 3G launch?

At risk of being shun by most of my peers on this message board, you are preaching to the wrong crowd man. There are hefty portions of the MacRumors Forums of people bragging about what they have (even though their mommy and daddies bought it and/or are in debt because of it) and they beg to spend more piles of cash on stuff that doesn't matter.

While this happens throughout our entire society, it is especially annoying and shameful with the blind Mac faithful.
 
XboxEvolved said:
Actually decent enough post, but you -just- realized this with the iPhone 3G launch?
Click to expand...
That the OP realized this is a good thing. Better late than never. Also, don't take it for granted that everyone realizes something like this - because some don't - and I applaud the OP for posting their observations.

While it may not change materialistic nature overnight - hopefully someone will walk away from this thread with a couple of new broodings and "mullin's over".
 
i applaud you for posting your opinion on this matter.

most of what you said is very true. a lot of the whiners simply don't have the time to worry about anyone else. it's all about them and what they want and what they need and why they need it. me, me, me. screw everyone else.

that is OK though. more than likely they probably live a boring life which is why they spend most of their time on a message board complaining about stupid crap like this in the first place. ;)
 
Maybe if we are lucky our "culture' can one reach the the OP's highchair. (talk about condescension and smugness)

A couple people venting on a forum ..and something is afoot in our culture.

I am wondering if this guy is troll for his chutzpah... for blasting people for being excited about their hobby ...on a forum where they congregate

I stood in the line at the Apple store at 5th Ave in NYC (after an unsuccessful stint at an ATT store) and met some really great people.

I like gadgets and I will not apologize about it. The people who were in line with me shared in the love of gadgets and were friendly and the comradeship was great.

I am very happy with my phone and have a cool 'geek' story about getting my phone.

As far as people complaining on this forum ...People commenting on a forum on the internet dont constitute the majority voice about ANYTHING...if they did we would have Ron Paul still running for president and Linux would have 90% of the OS market
 
Excellent post. Hopefully,what DH and others will learn as they become young adults, it's what you do behind closed doors (e.g. HERE) that defines your character.
 
I just want to understand how does apple do it?

Like how around the world all the phones sold out within hours when they have better things on the market (japan).

And how do they make people wait on these long lines for days for a store opening that they know exactly what is in it and have seen it before.(it cant just be good products)

I just want to understand their marketing/advertising section of apple.
 
Yeah, but a lot of your observations are kinda unfair. Consumers clearly got the short end of the stick on this one. I mean...giving ATT stores a handful of iPhones on launch day? come on, that's plain dumb, especially when the apple store had plenty. People being inpatient and trying to hit the server so they can use their phone and get on with the rest of their lives? yeah,sorry, didnt realize having a usable phone was such a tall order.

Your "I'm not trying to sound smug or judgmental" BS line at the end of your multi-paragraph post doesn't negate the fact that it is both. Perhaps you should take your own advice and be donating your time instead of writing judgmental posts on mobile phone rumor sites.

now if you will excuse me, I need to go refill the gas tank in my hummer on my way to the starbucks to pick up my tall hapacrapachino, but not before I drop off my old refrigerators and air conditioning units at the dump.
 
Too true. This is especially true if you've ever been involved in one of those "the customer is always right" jobs. People LOVE to curse out someone they have never met on a phone for a tech support call for something that is not their fault most of the time. That's just plain rude. I hung up on a tech support person before, but that's because his English comprehension was negatory and he asked me the same question 5 times, I gave him the answer, he kept getting angrier, so I just ended the call. Yah, I don't use Earthlink anymore, either. :)

The entitlement thing is SO TRUE. I'll admit I get a little entitled when it comes to stuff at my job (like, um, our pathetic raises coming when we have work added...but no, secretly cut them stupid corporate!). But I have noticed a lot of people seem to feel they are to get nothing but perfect service all the time because, well, they're a customer! You know, cuz they would NEVER make a mistake!

I also totally agree with the en masse rollout of all that stuff. I don't know who came up with that idea, but I kinda saw a train wreck coming on that. We used to register people at band camp across 3 or 4 days so we wouldn't have one miserable day for everybody. They started with leadership people, then did rookies (which definitely need their own day), and then the returning vets. Worked pretty well considering the fustercluck such an event is. But anyway, yes, impatient people can make things get worse by being "that guy."

Good post, good points.
 
An addition on the point of "a bad day."

Tony Snow's family had "a bad day." Many of you have probably been through the same thing. Not getting a freakin' phone is not a bad day. You survived without an iPhone 3G for (insert number of years old you are). Another week doesn't hurt.
 
I just can't help but laugh(in a good way).
Everything you've 'learned' has been true for the past what? 3? 5? 8 years?
We, as a society, thrive on this sort of stuff. It's the one way people can escape the reality of high gas prices, soaring food costs, a tumbling economy, or other signs of hardship. Plus, it's the just culturally and socially 'right' to do this. You will be shunned if you do otherwise, and people we find you weird or socially retarded.
 
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