Think Customers: The 1to1 Blog

I remember hearing the predictions a year ago about how iPhone would revolutionize the world. One analyst even predicted Apple would sell 45 million of them by 2009. The latest estimates are that about 5 million have been sold so far, and Apple hopes to sell 10 million by the end of the year. The phones have largely been sold to customers who are already Apple enthusiasts, the holdouts who refer to Microsoft’s dominance of the PC market as though Bill Gates were a totalitarian dictator.

I didn’t buy the buildup the first time, and I’m certainly not going to this time. Jobs announced the new version, which runs on a faster, more reliable wireless network and costs less than the original. The touch-screen that was purported to be the greatest thing since sliced bread was the first mainstream example of the technology, but other phone-makers had been developing the same technology and released similar smartphones soon after the iPhone’s debut.

Yes, Steve Jobs is an impressive speaker and a very good salesman; that’s why Apple brought him back after pushing him out years earlier. But he’s never going to sell me an iPhone. All I see is a typical smartphone, shackled to an exclusive contract with AT&T, and packaged in a whirlwind of undeserved hype.

What do you think? In addition to commenting, I’ve included two poll questions this week. The results are unscientific, but it’s an easy way to express your opinion.