iPhone: Always On
I have a personal beef with Apple. I try to never let personal matters interfere with what I choose to write about. But hey, if Apple wants to offer me the same price (.30 per song) for upgrading the sound quality on the 3,500 songs I've purchased over the past three years as it does for someone who bought three songs over the past three years, go for it. They do, after all, have leverage. Leverage is a rare and dangerous thing when you're a brand marketer. This is a lesson Apple is learning the hard way. The iPhone has been the most visible product launch of the "all blogger/all breaking news" era. Did you know the iPhone launch was actually considered a "developing story" on CNN last Friday? But with this visibility the iPhone launch has been placed under a microscope that is unwarranted and unfair. Of course there are going to be a few unhappy customers. Of course there will be some problems with partners. What did you expect? Problem is, the obsession with "always on" information means that CNN considers the iPhone and its associated issue a kind of techy Paris Hilton story. And as Paris would undoubtedly know, as the old saying goes: "The higher you climb the flagpole the more they see your ...... you know."
