Thanks for the reply. My problem is not that I don't follow technology--I have to be pretty savvy about certain aspects of technology for my job, and for the job(s) I hope to get. It's that I get rather alarmed when I see overhyped products and exaggerated claims for technology that, in the business world, doesn't really do much for the users, but does a lot for the manufacturers and the corporations.
EXAMPLE: I've spent many, many hours on websites and the phone lately, trying to track down, among other things, the answer to why my cellphone suddenly stopped working in critical parts of town. It took hours to finally get to a real human being who knew anything at all about my problem. I'm going to have to make the trek to the cellphone storefront, because it's clear that this is the only way I can get a straight answer about my problem; and even if the guy is wearing something that would make a used-car salesman blush, I'm sure he's going to look WONDERFUL. Does anybody really think that a cute new interface would have made my quest any easier? It's far more likely that it would have added new twists and turns to my search, and that it would have taken much longer to get to the help I needed. Technology is only as good as the companies that use it, and the purposes for which it is used. I have a sneaking suspicion that iPhone related technology will be used to make things convenient for the corporations--especially the phone service providers--not the customers. So far, phone service providers don't exactly inspire confidence. To quote Ernestine, the telephone operator: "We don't care. We don't have to. We're the telephone company!" And as for ordering other stuff: most people can wait until they get to a regular computer terminal to order something online; and a regular phone (cellphone or otherwise) will do quite nicely to order by phone. Good customer service impresses me; jargon and technological dodges don't. --Constance Warner -----Original Message----- From: Computer Guys Announcements and Discussion List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Snyder, Mark Sent: Monday, July 09, 2007 3:41 PM To: COMPUTERGUYS-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM Subject: Re: [CGUYS] Will the iPhone Change Everything? Constance, the IDC article I posted was mostly about how the iPhone's home registration process would change things that are now ordered by sales people in stores. So you can buy it without sitting down with the one in the plaid pants, white shoes and belt. The article also explains that this will add efficiencies to the process that are expected to save costs to buyers and sellers. The iPhone is also a new configuration of the smart phone with improved user interfaces. I am afraid that unless you follow technology and the business of technology, this may not impress you. Thank you, Mark Snyder -----Original Message----- Will someone translate this for me? As far as I can see, the iPhone doesn't do anything for the user that extant gadgets already do, only it does it a lot prettier and anywhere there's a really great wireless connection. It's also very expensive and only works with one phone carrier (which, incidentally, works very poorly in the national capitol area). Exactly how, please, is this revolutionary? I hear phrases about the iPhone bringing about an "automated self-service ordering process" which has "deep implications for empowering different parts of the digital value chain" allowing me, as a user, to "activate or deactivate services on [my] own", which will bring about the utopia of "affordable mass customization". Say WHAT???? It looks like the author is saying that the iPhone and similar gadgets will allow corporations to fire even more of their human staff, leaving customers to flounder in a hybrid voicemail/ internet hell (if we dare to ask for anything). And this while we're coping with a handheld device that probably requires a Visual Quick-Start Guide for the average user to actually make the thing work. Would someone please translate this whole BIG CHANGE thing into normal, non-business English? What does the iPhone do for us that current devices don't? How will our lives be different, today and tomorrow, because the iPhone exists? ************************************************************************ * ==> QUICK LIST-COMMAND REFERENCE - Put the following commands in <== * ==> the body of an email & send 'em to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <== * Join the list: SUBSCRIBE COMPUTERGUYS-L Your Name * Too much mail? Try Daily Digests command: SET COMPUTERGUYS-L DIGEST * Tired of the List? Unsubscribe command: SIGNOFF COMPUTERGUYS-L * New address? From OLD address send: CHANGE COMPUTERGUYS-L YourNewAddress * Need more help? 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