courier-journal.com — So secretive was the project that he didn't even show the phone to his wife. And when AT&T's team of testers hit the streets to try the phone in ballparks, subways and skyscrapers, Burns said they used a contraption to cloak the device so nobody would know what the testers were holding, calling it "something that looked like something else"
Jul 29, 2007 View in Crawl 4
qwertyuioJul 30, 2007
Uh, have you see apple fanboys? The sad part about the paranoia is that it is justified.
oofgegJul 30, 2007
The description of the article gives me all the info I need. I need not wade through a wordy article of a guy who can use a phone.
drakinoJul 30, 2007
Apple's paranoia seems to be working well for them. And yes, while it might "only" be consumer electronics, Apple is being paranoid for very good reasons. A few I can think of:1. By being secretive up until their announcement, Apple ensures they control the marketing message, and not someone else. Jobs even admitted the reason they showed the iPhone in January was so that they could announce it, and not the FCC when it was being certified. 2. Competitors have less time to try and copy what Apple does if they can keep something secret right up till it ships. That way the first iPod nano someone comes across is actually a real Apple iPod nano and not some Chinese knockoff.3. Better sales by not pre-announcing a newer product. Sure, many of us here on digg are likely to do a ton of research prior to buying a product, including checking when it is likely to be replaced but the general public likely won't go so deep. If a company pre-announces their next big replacement for an existing product loud enough, then the general consumer is likely to hear it and hold off on buying the existing product. Look for example how badly some car sales slump after a big car show with a newer version of the same model.As for limiting product development to a small team, I can't really see anything wrong with that. More cooks in the kitchen doesn't always mean something better. Vista is a clusterf**k of "really obvious brain-fade things", and that had a massive, non secretive team working on it. So clearly openness and team size isn't the solution to fixing that problem.Apple is a business, and businesses primary goal is to make money. Apple's practices may seem strange compared to other companies in the same field, but it's working well for them. They were a big deal when they started as the industry was new. Then they went through 15 or so years of noone caring. When Jobs came back, he turned the company around, to, well, the point where we are sitting here discussing their newest product, instead of saying "Remember when Apple finally when under?"
jawbreaker4fsJul 30, 2007
EDGE on the iPhone is pretty good. It's a lot faster than I would have expected. I suspect the only people who are complaining that the iPhone doesn't have 3G are those who have never used the device. All the other iPhone users I've talked to haven't had any problem with it....also I suspect the complainers have a little bit of iPhone envy.
johnnyxmasJul 30, 2007
Pics or it didn't happen.
stevemaxJul 30, 2007
What's an iPhone?
skippydoorknobJul 30, 2007
Transformers - iPhones in disguise!