Results tagged “apple” from Birmingham Mail - Technobabble

Is this the end of the 'ipod generation'?

Well Steve Wozniak, creator of company Apple certainly thinks so.

In a recent interview he said "The iPod has sort of lived a long life at number one," he says. "Things like, that if you look back to transistor radios and Walkmans, they kind of die out after a while.

"It's kind of like everyone has got one or two or three. You get to a point when they are on display everywhere, they get real cheap and they are not selling as much."

This will be of concern to us media types who love nothing more than summing up a massive group of people (ie the young in this case) in one easy catch-all phrase.

This has the joint effect on saving on words (keeping stories and articles slimmed down and concise) and also making us sound like we're 'in touch' and, dare I say, 'with it'.

I refer, of course, to that group of people known as 'editors' who love nothing better than proving to executives and directors how in touch they are with the 'web 2.0' revolution (which incidentally Wozniak and many others think has somewhat been over-egged) than dropping a catchprase that makes them sound cutting edge.

I remember a while ago the 'print 1.0' phenomenon of Sudoku leading editors to drop this number game into every press release and document to show how they were moving with popular crazes.

So now our glorious leaders might have to find a new catchphrase to move with the times. In the interview I linked to Wozniak says over investment in the Web 2.0 social networking may backfire, which rules out 'Facebook Generation' as it's so 'old hat, dear boy' now.

Suggestions on a postcard - but I'm going to look even further to the past for inspiration. I remember loving William Gibson's groundbreaking techno thriller series - so I want editors to refer to the 'Cyberpunk Generation'.

They'll be ahead of the game, because after all, we haven't as yet got cranial sockets to 'jack in' to the web, although I'm sure they're almost here!

That's technobabble - so far behind it's ahead!

Mobile phone retailers have announced that the price of the iPhone is to be slashed for the next month.

This means cuts of around £100 for the much-hyped device.

The Carphone Warehouse and mobile phone operator O2 said they would sell the 8GB iPhone for £169 until June 1.

This is a cut of more than a third of the gadget's original price within five months of its much-anticipated launch.

But Apple stores will continue to sell the 8GB phone for £269.

So has it been a runaway success? Clearly slashing the price soon after launch has nothing whatsoever to do with disappointing sales, say the shops.

In fact O2 today described it as their fastest selling device. But they don't qualify the statement - so it might have been the fastest selling ever on launch day, for example.

After all, anyone waiting in anticipation for the launch would probably have bought it immediately. Also consider that in your average 02 shop there must be 30 phones on sale at any one time - so a standout product like the iphone would be expected to perhaps out perform other mobiles which have many rivals.

I certainly wouldn't be surprised that people haven't been flocking to buy a device for £269 with a minimum £35 monthly contract, data limits and functions that most people wouldn't ever use.