Random Thoughts

Lost Magic

I figured I post my opinion here since it’s too long to fit in a couple of tweets.

First of all, while I think that Gizmodo probably did the wrong thing with the found iPhone prototype, but that’s beside the point. What really has been done is something Gizmodo wrote about themselves: the secrets of Apple have been revealed. 

Every time Apple holds an event everyone gets ready to be amazed, to be blown away by the newest Apple invention. But recently it hasn’t been the same. With tech blogs digging deeper into each rumour and each scrap about the next Apple product it makes the events no fun. When Steve Jobs pulls an iPhone out of his pocket my first reaction is “awesome!” and then the specs are shown and I realise that I know all of them. I’ve read about what chip runs it, how big the screen is going to be, and even what the case will probably look like. But I mostly watch the keynote for the show, and don’t pay too much attention to the specs, just the odd “Oh, that rumour was right,” so I can put up with it. 

But, with Gizmodo getting ahold of the next iPhone it’s not just random specs and blurry photos. They did a full review of the phone months before it will even be announced. And this really takes the fun away from things. Because it’s not just watching the keynote to see if the random rumours and specs are true, this time there’s no doubt about it, there’s a 99% chance that what is on Gizmodo is the next iPhone. But, I think Gizmodo sums up my feelings (and theirs) about this whole thing

We’ve just lost one of our few self-indulgences of wonder. Christmas morning will never, ever be the same.

And really I only have one thing to say to that: “And whose fault do you think that is?” The need to know what Apple is going to announce has gone beyond crazy. For once it would be nice to have an Apple event without all of the specs spilled ahead of time. As Gizmodo’s post talks about, some of the magic of Apple has been lost. I think it’s a shame.