Jesus’ sermon on the mount may be a little over the top, but the analogy isn’t. When a man widely recognised as one of the most influential on the internet along with a well respected programmer and the senior writer of an influential tech news service all abandon the iPhone for a variety of reasons, people are going to take notice and, possibly, take action.The iPhone is still touted as leagues ahead of any other handset, even by the people abandoning it. Michael Arrington, Om Malik and Steven Frank all quit the iPhone in disgust and plan to use other models and service providers they acknowledge to be inferior. The combined effect of their decisions may be a ripple that will snowball into a tidal wave, to mix metaphorical states of H2O.
It’s interesting that while they all list the various problems, they each had their camels’ back broken by a different straw. They’ve all reached the point after dealing with issues that have irked them but clearly there’s a breaking line for everything. People may tolerate something indefinitely, but when it eventually becomes intolerable they will take definite action.
Apple often run into problems because they’re usually leading the way, and that’s fine. People put up with it because they understand the nature of trail blazing and have faith that they will find solutions with their trademark innovation and creativity. Which is why their current issues with the Google Voice App seem so out of place. Apple may be all about pleasing the end user and relying on their innovation and marketing to attain the adoration of the masses, but when they start losing the support of the develepors and techies and the prominent media people who move in those circles, it means the bleeding edge is no longer running in their favor.
Don’t piss off the people in your network who are the most vocal, influential and high profile. Fix the problems, Apple.