A friend on another forum -- non-Apple-related -- who knows that I am a keen Apple fan asked today if I were excited about the new iPhone 5. I responded quite honestly and as I was doing so realized just how much I still miss Steve Jobs. The keynote presentations, no matter how great (or not-so-great) the product, are just not the same without him.
FWIW, this is what I had written on the other forum:
Actually....to be honest, no, not as much as I would like to be. One reason is because so many of the new features and such were already guessed-at on the various forums, which then takes away the surprise element which is usually part of the fun. Nonetheless, I will be preordering and/or standing in line to get one, though, as my iPhone 4 is starting to show its age a bit in terms of battery life and such. Some features on the new iPhone such as Siri, I'll never use, and that's fine, no biggie. Other features and functionality will be welcomed, such as the faster speeds due to both a faster processor and the implementation of LTE, which I already have on my third-gen iPad. Definitely the 8 mp camera on this thing will be nice to have. No need to buy a P&S camera ever again (not that I was planning to do so anyway) -- the truism about "the camera you have with you gets the shots"....comes into play here, as I always have my iPhone with me, even when not carrying a camera in addition. The new iPhone looks and sounds great, has some features which I'll really appreciate, but I have to admit that, yeah, I'm not all that excited about it.
One huge reason I think I was just not excited at today's keynote is....well....for me, the magic is gone. Really. First of all, this is no longer a brand-new totally innovative product, it's simply an upgrade to something we've had for several years now. Heck, everyone and his uncle or aunt has an iPhone now. An upgrade to the product....great. Exciting? Uh...not so much so. That aside, though, more importantly: no one, and I mean NO ONE, can ever arouse the level of enthusiasm and excitement about an Apple product the way Steve Jobs could. His "reality distortion field" had the viewer/listener wrapped around his little finger in nothing flat. His charisma, his ability to charm everyone into seeing the magic of whatever new Apple product he was talking about is just not there any more. I really missed him today and I'll bet I am far from the only one who did. Sure, Tim, Eddy, Jony, Bob, whoever else, some whose names I don't recall now, all did their best today to demonstrate and really promote the latest products (iPhone 5, new versions of iPods, iOS 6) but, sad to say, it's just not the same, nor will it ever be again. I am so happy that I at least had some years of being able to enjoy the full "Apple experience," the full Steve Jobs experience......and that I got to see and hear him in person at MacWorld in 2006.
