To address some of the current discussions
- bigger phone -
We do so much more on phones now. For some people, their phone is their primary internet device, and while for many of us, the internet is a small part of what a computer does, for the majority, it's the reason for owning a computer - which brings us back to - the bigger the better. I never bought into Apple's line of we make little phones so you can use them one-handed, that was just their excuse for not making larger phones 2 years ago when it was clear, Samsung was getting a disproportionate amount of sales simply because of bigger screens and Apple had dropped the ball on screen size. Masters of spin, Apple turned their failure into a meme that was parroted by fanboys all over the world.
- did anyone get a Plus for delivery on 19th? -
I haven't seen anyone expecting to get a Plus on 19th. I don't think they're available in numbers (per the rumours) IF AT ALL and pre-order is just a way to push buyers out a few weeks, to preserve what little stock they have for stores on launch day.
I'm considering cancelling my order and going to a store, just to see if they have any Plus stock at all. I don't believe they do and the Plus is actually delayed, but Apple didn't have the balls to admit it.
The Plus would have been an outstanding phone 2 years ago, but it's barely adequate this year. As it is, we're stuck with an 8MP camera (that'll be 6 years in a row, and that's just not acceptable in technology, especially at Apple's prices) and 1GB of RAM, which wasn't enough last year and certainly isn't enough this year, much less for 2 years expected life of the phone. Not to mention it makes a mockery of a 64 bit CPU's only advantage being addressing more than 4GB or RAM!
2 years ago there were rumours and mockups of a 5" iPhone, and Apple leaked that expectation away, but it doesn't change the fact that a 5" phone was needed then and 5.5", 8MP, 1GB RAM now, smacks of penny pinching and margin hogging. It also proves the value of the ecosystem, because the specs are laughable.
If Apple didn't do the 5.5, I would have bought a 1520, despite all the downsides I could live with a 20MP camera and an even bigger screen. I use the phone all day and night, and
the bigger the better. Avoiding Google is almost worth the pain of Microsoft.
-Thinness really is important-
You get a lot of people saying make it a few mm thicker and give me 2 days battery life. While I'm the first to complain about camera MP, thinness is really important, partly for weight, but mostly to make larger phones easier to hold and operate. The 5 didn't feel much bigger because reach across the increased screen size was mitigated by a smaller depth dimension.
- my 50¢ worth -
iCloud Wet Dream is looking pretty shaky for iOS 8 and Yosemite.
In one week we've had the total failure of Apple streaming the Event and what somebody called Gruber called "the online store crapping itself so utterly is just embarrassing".
Apple is not inspiring any confidence in their cloud products, yet AGAIN. In fact, it's getting Microsoft ludicrous now - it's bad now, but the next version will be better
Maybe there was UNPRECEDENTED demand, both on event day and pre-order day, but guess what? There's going to be UNPRECEDENTED demand on iCloud EVERY DAY with iOS8/Yosemite. Google and Amazon don't go down because their entire business depends on it. Apple can pretend their business doesn't depend on cloud services, but increasingly, customer satisfaction will be linked to reliability of Apple's services. See also my comments above about customers paying Apple prices for the services, because the hardware doesn't justify it. iCloud mail doesn't need to be instantaneous, but iMessage CANNOT go down, not even for 30 seconds. Putting photos and all documents in the cloud is going to require UNPRECEDENTED reliability for Apple services, and there's no evidence Apple is capable.
iOS and Yosemite ßetas have not even begun testing iCloud Wet Dream!!! It's clear there will be a staggered rollout, after both OSes are released, but it's all still unknown. The only hard data is that Apple has not succeeded YET, this last week included. And I'm beginning to doubt everything promised will be rolled out, much working with 100% reliability before iOS9 and OS X.11 are due.
If you remember the scene in Hudson Hawk
Things look bad, coach.
If Cook didn't do the equivalent of Jobs' town hall ball-roasting over Mobile Me this week, and have the responsible teams justifying their lives much less their employment, his beloved Customer Sat is going to be deader than the aforementioned co-founder.
And we might as well all have Windows phones because Apple's much loved usability will be a thing of the past.
Being in Australia, brings an interesting perspective to the two failures this week. The stream was 3am, and Apple Australia couldn't provide working streams from the website or for TV. That's just INCONCEIVABLE for 3am !
The store debacle was even more noticeable here because there was no staggered pre-order rollout. Normally New Zealand and Australia, two small populations get the store open at midnight, and stores open progressively as midnight rolls around the globe. For reasons completely unknowable - and no I don't subscribe to incompetence, I always look for conspiracy, before I ascribe incompetence to the smartest company in the world - they deliberately allowed the entire globe to hit the store at once.
This is my take - Apple had no Plus phones, so they moved the pre-order to all-at-once so that the confusion would hide the fact that the Plus wasn't actually available for a month. It's the equivalent of releasing bad news while something else is dominating the news cycle - try to hide it in the confusion. Likely the flack will be even worse this year, and the best option is to go back to last year's option - no pre-order.
The planet should cancel their pre-orders and call Apple's bluff. You can line up at a store, but last year, anyone who rocked up after midday could get anything except a gold phone, no waiting. Show us your stock, Apple!
I think we'll find that this year, the obvious most popular model - plain old 64GB Plus Grey, is as scarce as the gold phone was last year. Everyone wants it and I don't believe there's any stock. Apple is in deep do do, all because they didn't think they could stand the bad PR and lost sales due to a delay on the Plus phones. Even worse, Apple has lost integrity by not being truthful with their customers. Treating customers with that much contempt is the beginning of the end for a company like Apple.
Cook buckles too easily to Wall St, and this has cemented it. Cook has no integrity now, he has no mind and spine of his own, he's controlled by the stock market and internet whingers. Cook told the truth last year - you'll have to wait for the 5s and apparently couldn't handle the flack (it's a way to artificially boost sales of the 5c, etc), because he went "the other way" this year
And that's not good, either for Apple or its customers.
Dare I say it - Jobs had the stones to take it on the chin, because Wall St and internet whingers are just idiots in places of power, but the new gentler Apple wants to make everyone happy, at the risk of losing their essence in the process.
iPhone but I'm not standing in line for hours to get a one. It'll come eventually. My 5s will suffice for an extra week or two. Im more annoyed that I wasted my time getting up at 3am to order it and still am not getting it at launch.
