Cult of Mac

Too often, we dissect minute details of a company’s everyday actions looking for signs of health or strategy. Unfortunately, quarterly reports and individual actions can be totally misleading. That’s why I’ve created the above map, which charts, near as I can tell, the evolution of Apple’s entire product family from the Apple I to the iPhone. I was inspired to do it by this chronological sort done by Edwin Tofslie that Fake Steve linked to last night. The images involved are of every major design revision, not necessarily model revision, that Apple has made in its 30 year history. So I decided to chart how various products superceded others in Apple’s history, and start to think about new implications.

I’m tired, I haven’t done much thinking, other than to notice that Apple’s four product lines really came together perfectly in 2001, just in time to launch the iPod from a position of strength. The above image is tiny, so head to Scribd to see it in full, especially as a PDF download. There’s a lot to take in, but I’m dying to know what you think. Do my connections make sense? Does a pattern emerge that implies where Apple will go next?

See the full map!

Jon Lech Johansen, the 23-year-old who first cracked the CSS encryption screen for DVDs when he was 15, has now discovered a method for activating the iPhone without registering with AT&T at all. With the help of a little Windows application called Phone Activation Server and a few “magic numbers” Jon posted, Apple’s amazing new device wakes up as a touchscreen iPod and WiFi-enabled Internet device — that, of course, can’t make phone calls. With this, I think it’s safe to assume we’ll see an unlocked iPhone running on T-Mobile or one of the European carriers very shortly. I know there’s a lot more to it, but people are really honing in on the secured side of the iPhone now. Still, it would be nice if the cracks were written for Linux and Mac OS X instead of .NET…

Via Apple 2.0

David Pogue of the New York Times, ladies and gentlemen. Would that we could all be so un-self-conscious.

At the end of its first full week on sale, a distinct pattern has emerged for iPhone availability: We West Coasters are out of luck. Though Apple has obviously begun to restock its stores with iPhones, they appear to be working from East to West.

According to Apple’s availability checker, virtually every Apple Store in New York, all of them in New Jersey, and most shops up and down the eastern seaboard are chock full of iPhones, while no state west of Utah has even one iPhone available in Apple Stores. Hopefully, new shipments could arrive out here tomorrow for a weekend pick-up. As a reminder, Apple announces the next day’s iPhone availability at 9 p.m. each day – which is a nice way to avoid going to a store and coming back empty-handed.

This is great news. I couldn’t be more delighted that BBC journalist Alan Johnston’s kidnapping didn’t end tragically. He’d been detained for 16 weeks and his release was negotiated by Hamas, now in control of Gaza.

He told the BBC: “It is the most fantastic thing to be free.”

More details at NYT.

It must be a constant frustration to Steve Jobs that journalists and message board commenters alike routinely “misspell” iLife, iTunes, iPod, etc. as Ilife, Itunes, Ipod. Well, in the universe of the iPhone, that vicious cycle will end. Reader Scott notes:

I don’t know if anybody else has noticed this yet, but the spellcheck on iPhone auto corrects the “mis-punctuation” of Apple’s i-products.
For example:

Ilife becomes iLife
Itunes becomes iTunes
etc.

It gave me a little chuckle to realize Apple edited the dictionary in it’s own favor.

Update: Scott came through with the evidence.

Picture: CommonGate

The paparazzi caught Ms. Lohan leaving Planet Blue at the Country Mart in Malibu on Saturday clutching an iPhone in her hand, according to crazyGossip. More crazy Lohan shopping pics at the site.

I bet the iPhone’s glass top is great for chopping and snorting.

According to Erica Sadun at TUAW, the iPhone can be used with an old SIM card. She activated her phone, then popped out the SIM card and put in an old one. The iPhone continued to function as an iPod, plus web and email via Wi-Fi.

However, I’m pretty sure this won’t work with an unactivated iPhone — and in the comments someone noted that it’ll likely get disabled when iTunes checks for a software update.

Todd Ficharker, who describes himself as the “clumsiest person in the world” smashed the screen of his iPhone less than 24 hours after he bought it. He explains:

“I tried answering a call while it was plugged in and the short cord pulled it out of my hand and hit the corner of a table on the way down. 100% my fault.”

But there’s a silver lining! Unbelievably, Apple replaced it for free.

“They gave me a brand new phone for free. Talk about fantastic customer care. I am in love 4-eva with Apple.”

Via MacFeber

Pic by Leander Kahney: Apple’s San Francisco store on iPhone opening night.

Goldman Sachs analyst David Bailey thinks Apple sold 700,000 iPhones on its opening weekend, more than half again than the 500,000 estimated by his esteemed colleague Gene Munster.

Bloomberg reports that Bailey initially pegged 350,000 iPhone sales, and Munster estimated 200,000.

Said Munster: “In 2009, we estimate a third of Apple’s sales will be from iPhone. This is a huge product.”

Dinner Conversation: June 28th, 2007
Click on the pic to read the captions.

Apple sold half a million iPhones in its opening weekend, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster estimates.

Munster was impressed with the raw speed at which the iPhones were sold. Some stores had 50 cashiers selling 1,000 iPhones an hour, he said. Most were the 8-Gbyte model.

It looks like the iPhone is beginning to sell out. Almost every store in California is out, except for one San Francisco store. However, there are iPhones available in New York and other states.

But I bet they’ll be sold out by the weekend. EBay sellers disappointed that the handsets aren’t being snapped up need only wait a week or two and they’ll be scarce again. (iPhone Not Quite The Cash Cow eBay Sellers Were Hoping: by Corey Spring, Newsvine)

The above YouTube video shows someone typing quite fast on the iPhone. He or she writes:

“People who can’t type fast on this phone are retarded.”

Via Gizmodo.

We performed an iPhone autopsy at Wired News on Friday night. Don’t worry, it’s on Conde Nast’s tab.

Breaking it open was pretty daunting. The iPhone is near impregnable. But we sank a few beers and soon the knife was out.

We learned a few valuable lessons about taking it apart — like don’t drink beer. It’s all detailed here.

The iPhone is gadget heaven. It really does restore your sense of childlike wonder. I’ve had a blast all weekend running my greasy finger over its glassy surface.

It’s a Crackberry for the masses. Finally, mobile email, messaging and web browsing is fun and easy — how did it take so long?

I’ve had a Treo and cell phone email for years, but never, ever used them — they’re a mess. Now I’m an iPhone text addict — a 41-year-old acting like a teenager.

I bought one on Friday and have been out around town with my kids all weekend. The little angels monopolized it, surfing the web and watching YouTube. They figured it out immediately. I showed them one thing — how to use your fingers to shrink and zoom — that was it. I took some calls, surfed the web and sent some email.

I found it’s not all roses — there’s serious issues using it for work — but in general, we’re true believers.

The Good and The Bad after the jump. Plus camera phone samples.

This never takes long anymore, does it? The guys at WirelessInfo.com seem to have been the first to film and post an unboxing video of their new iPhone to the Intarwebs, as you can see above. A bit excited, yes?

iFixit, meanwhile, not only posted an unboxing gallery, which you can see here, they took it all the way to the logical conclusion: TOTAL DISASSEMBLY. Do not try this at home, folks. Damn.

Via Digg and Apple 2.0

Apple is selling the iPhone in what I have to assume is their first-ever product specific shopping bag. Madness.

The box, needless to say, is gorgeous.

See above. I’m heading to the Genius Bar tomorrow. Who wants to be bet there’s already someone there to complain that Apple sold them a defective phone without a keypad?

As you might expect, Apple has thrown out tons of iPhone demo units so you can get the full experience in the store. As you might not expect, it’s actually capable of placing calls – and Apple isn’t blocking caller ID. How do I know? Because I accidentally called the Hayes Street Grill in San Francisco and hung up in horror. And then leaped back as a return call came in. I answered, of course. I then called my fiancee to capture the number of the phone. I would think this is a bad idea for Apple to have those numbers readily available, but what the heck? The number is 408-398-9220. Please use it responsibly – this can be the new John Appleseed number.

Well, it turns out there was no need to camp out for an iPhone, at least in San Francisco. When I finally rolled into the Apple Store in Union Square at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night, Apple had plenty of boxes still on hand…not that my T-Mobile-using butt was going home with one. Still, I had a lot of time to play with an iPhone all to myself (and observing my fiancee doing her own experiments), and I have some early thoughts and a few discoveries I haven’t seen anywhere else on the Web yet). Read on for more.

Technorati Tags: iphone

Though Leander and I are stuck inside during the glory that is is iPhone day, have no fear: Friends are here. Our pals over at GeekSugar snapped a bunch of pics from both the Apple Store and AT&T Stores near Market Street in San Francisco. Be sure to check out both sets for pictures of clowns, to go along with the Battleship-playing duo you see above. No word yet on who sank whose aircraft carrier.

Word has it that there are 200 people hanging out in from tof the Apple Store, but only 15 at AT&T – plus, AT&T is passing out bottles of water and folding chairs. At least AT&T knows how lucky they are to ever have someone line up at their stores…

One of the Geeksters also chatted with Amanda and J., the first two folks in line at AT&T. J. broke out a beer (a fine tallboy of Tecate, naturally), and Angela is a professional Craigslist line-sitter – she’s taking home $500 today. Ah, to be young again.

I’m watching the iPhone lines get longer and longer while I’m shackled to my desk all day. I’ll be lucky if I get out of here late afternoon. I’ll probably head to a mall in South San Francisco in the vain hope it’ll be less of a zoo than downtown San Francisco.

Who else is stuck at work?

Though San Francisco’s Union Square Apple Store didn’t develop an iPhone waiters line until yesterday evening, the line has grown to quite the monstrosity as of this morning, running from the store’s front door for a good block and then rounding the corner. There are tents, a bizarre pie-throwing booth, and the people look restless.

I didn’t get a shot off before my bus rounded the corner en route to Caltrain. Anyone out there in line already? Who’s got photos? What’s the mood?

Christopher Null has created a special drink to loosen your wallet before buying an iPhone.

Any doubts about laying out thousands for the iPhone will magically melt away after three stiff Appletinis.

2 oz. Vodka
1/2 oz. Apple Pucker Schnapps
1/2 oz. Goldschlager
1/4 oz. Cointreau (or Triple Sec)

Photo of Greg Packer, first in line at Apple’s 5th Ave. store, from Wikipedia.

People think Apple users are all black-turtleneck wearing graphic artists who wear poncy designer glasses, but look at the mixed bunch lining up in NYC for an iPhone.

There’s a Air Force vet, a hair stylist, and a guard at the UN, according to a list drawn up by one of the waiters:

1. Greg Packer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Packer)
2. David Clayman (Future Inforte – CHICAGO SAP Consultant)
3. Jessica Rodriguez (Whipsmart woman with wicked soundbites
4. Rebecca Boorsma (Hair stylist)
5. Anthony Cardozo (Air Force Vet, Arabic Speaker, Purple Heart)
6. Kai Pauli (Security Guard at UN, German Speaker)
7. Benjamin Sherman (Unknown)
8. Vincent Nguyen (Entrepreneur, myitablet.com)
9. Damian Charles (High school student)
10. Mark Conn (Watch him wink!)