{"id":4991,"date":"2012-09-17T22:00:07","date_gmt":"2012-09-18T05:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/?p=4991"},"modified":"2017-04-30T02:36:54","modified_gmt":"2017-04-30T09:36:54","slug":"iphone-5-hyper-anticipation-it-didnt-mean-what-you-think-it-meant-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/iphone-5-hyper-anticipation-it-didnt-mean-what-you-think-it-meant-again","title":{"rendered":"iPhone 5 Hyper-Anticipation: It Didn\u2019t Mean What You Think it Meant (AGAIN)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>iPhone 5 Hyper-Anticipation: It Didn\u2019t Mean What You Think it Meant (AGAIN) <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"qQMwLEy9Jv\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/iphone-5-hyper-anticipation-it-didnt-mean-what-you-think-it-meant-again\">iPhone 5 Hyper-Anticipation: It Didn\u2019t Mean What You Think it Meant (AGAIN)<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;iPhone 5 Hyper-Anticipation: It Didn\u2019t Mean What You Think it Meant (AGAIN)&#8221; &#8212; Lifeboat News: The Blog\" src=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/iphone-5-hyper-anticipation-it-didnt-mean-what-you-think-it-meant-again\/embed#?secret=ziCx5AeBwe#?secret=qQMwLEy9Jv\" data-secret=\"qQMwLEy9Jv\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"\"><strong>Okay, now \u2014 bear with me on this \u2014 and check it out:<\/strong><\/span><br \/> For now and for better or worse, The United States is home to a plurality of the world\u2019s techiest technology, investment capital, productive creativity, and cutting edge research. As such, hiccups in those technology-driven economies of real currency and ideas can ripple around the entire planet.<em> <\/em><em><strong><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Amid considerable anti-intellectualism and various public &amp; private R&amp;D funding issues, American tech leadership and innovation is stuttering and sputtering and might be in danger of faltering.<em><strong><\/strong><\/em> While we\u2019re not at that point just yet, there is an interesting harbinger with a peculiar manifestation: <span style=\"\"><strong>New iPhone Anticipation Loopiness.<\/strong><\/span> As I said, bear with me.<em><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/em><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/iphone-5-hyper-anticipation-it-didnt-mean-what-you-think-it-meant-again\/iphone-5-hopeless-longing\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4994\"><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/?p=4991\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4994\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/strong><\/em><em><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000\">_______________<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This is a repost &amp; redux from an October 5, 2011 <a href=\"http:\/\/Anthrobotic.com\">Anthrobotic.com<\/a> piece \u2014 published a day before the suspected-to-be-iPhone 5 was released as the iPhone 4S. While the fanboy drool and mainstream gee-whiz was considerably dialed down this time around (in part due to lots of leaking), the sentiment of this piece remains relevant and largely unchanged. Now, we did have the\u00c2 <a href=\"http:\/\/anthrobotic.com\/category\/curiosity\/#.UFCvgqRihhA\" target=\"_blank\">Nuclear-Powered Science Robot Dune Buggy with Lasers (AKA the rover Curiosity)<\/a> this year, and that was very big, but on a societal level we still have a sad hole in our technology heart.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Of course any hand-wringing about the underlying catalyst for weird iPhone fervor is a so-called first-world luxury, but to that I say \u201cShhhh, Trickle Down Technonomics\u00c2\u00a9\u00c2\u00ae is real.\u201c<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/em><span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><em><strong><em><strong>_______________<\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"\">The Great Want<\/span><br \/>\n<\/strong>I was half-seriously saying to my friend Jason last night that waiting for the iPhone 5\u2019s release is like waiting for Christmas morning when we were 10. Except that the reveal of this present will be more like <em>\u201cHere\u2019s what we got you, but you can\u2019t actually have it for another two to four weeks.\u201c<\/em>\u00c2 That part\u2019s kinda cruel. He\u2019s at 3G, I\u2019m at 3GS \u2014 upgrade is ferociously justified (and cheap here in Japan). So, like lots and lots of Americans and other people around the world, we\u2019ve been not so patiently waiting for Tuesday morning; we have also been part of this\u00c2 peculiar intensity.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"\"><strong>Troubling Telecommunication Technolust<\/strong><\/span><br \/> Now, is there any other product, across any and all areas of industry, for which a pending release has been the subject of such anticipation, such broad media coverage, and so much conjecture? And how is it that the key marketing strategy for a company\u2019s flagship revenue source is their absolute refusal to talk about the product until after its launch? Do we consumers really want the new hotness\u00c2 <em>that<\/em>\u00c2 badly? How are all these strings being pulled? How can so many otherwise reasonable adults have so much longing for this device?<\/p>\n<p>Even if one\u2019s not an iPhone user and has no plans to convert, chances are one is at least curious about what Apple\u2019s got. I mean, be honest, even if you\u2019ve got only a very general interest in technology, you\u2019re going to be paying attention to the announcement. And if you\u2019re not actively following the story, you\u2019ll hear about it passively \u2014 it will be everywhere for a few days or a week or so.<\/p>\n<p>So\u2026 what\u2019s this all about?<br \/> It\u2019s just a pretty new phone, right?<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"\"><strong>No.<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/images\/trans.gif\" alt=\"\" \/><\/strong><\/span><br \/> We know that a phone hasn\u2019t been just a phone for several years now \u2014 a lot of us hardly use the <em>telephone<\/em> part of the device at all. And, they\u2019ve become, well, you know \u2014 smart. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.computerworld.com\/s\/article\/9130685\/Elgan_Don_t_look_now_but_you_re_a_cyborg\" target=\"_blank\">This guy<\/a>\u00c2 (Mike Elgan) and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ted.com\/talks\/amber_case_we_are_all_cyborgs_now.html\" target=\"_blank\">this woman<\/a> (Amber Case) have developed theories suggesting that smartphones are actually highly personalized digital information prosthetics, and we users are already cybernetic organisms <a href=\"http:\/\/(Anthrobotic.com\">(Anthrobotic.com<\/a> nods in agreement). Smartphones connect us as individuals to the vast stream of human communication; they non-invasively enable the RAM &amp; ROM of all recorded human history into the palm of our hands, and devices\u2019 elegantly rapid penetration into everyday life has been\u2026 (drama pause) profound. Ask organizers and participants in the Arab Spring. Ask <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pcmag.com\/slideshow\/story\/297822\/how-the-mobile-phone-is-evolving-in-developing-countries\/1\" target=\"_blank\">villagers in developing countries<\/a> who lack roads and electricity \u2014 but do have respectable <em><\/em>data plans. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2012\/09\/13\/world\/africa\/mobile-phones-change-africa\/index.html?hpt=hp_c1\" target=\"_blank\">And ask again<\/a>, if you like.<\/p>\n<p>Mobile phones have become much more than the name implies, and as a practical tool, the iPhone 5 in particular will be an exciting addition to comms and gaming and entertainment blah blah blah. As per usual, Apple will probably introduce hardware and software features that will shape mobile technology on a global scale \u2014 that\u2019s what Apple does.<\/p>\n<p>And all that\u2019s awesome whoo-hoo way to go, but still, it\u2019s #5, just the latest iteration.<br \/> Not really <em>THAT<\/em> big of a deal, so why the hell do we care so much?<\/p>\n<div><span style=\"\"><strong>Deep-Seated Social-Psychological Phenomena Available in Red, White, &amp; Blue<\/strong><\/span><br \/> It seems to me that shallow, mindless American consumerism, certainly a well-documented species, is not the primary force driving our overblown iPhone 5 excitement and anticipation and media coverage and hyperbole. You\u2019d think so, but\u2026<\/div>\n<p>Listen for the thud \u2014 here drops a cheesy armchaired macro-diagnosis:<br \/> Subconsciously \u2014 in my country \u2014 the rabid anticipation for the iPhone 5 is actually about hope, inasmuch as it\u2019s about the American Dream. In a way.<br \/> Or, more accurately, the corpsification thereof. In a way.<\/p>\n<p>And that is because we the people have almost nothing else to be excited about.<br \/>\n<em>(<strong>except<\/strong>: <a href=\"http:\/\/anthrobotic.com\/category\/curiosity\/#.UFCvgqRihhA\" target=\"_blank\">The Nuclear-Powered Science Robot Dune Buggy with Lasers<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"\"><strong>We of the Uninspiring Slump<\/strong><\/span><br \/> Over at <a href=\"http:\/\/Anthrobotic.com\">Anthrobotic.com<\/a>, fundamental to my silly-ass take on tech is the primary tenet of the<span style=\"\"><strong><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0\"> 51%+ Positive Technological Utopianism Movement<\/span><\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0\"> <\/span>(that I totally just invented), which is:<em> <strong><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"\"><em><strong>Technology is the fundamental precursor to civilization and is therefore the most powerful social force in the universe, yo. Srsly.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Humanity is in the midst of a rapid upswing in almost all facets of human development. <a href=\"http:\/\/anthrobotic.com\/2011\/08\/02\/the-good-old-days-are-a-myth-right-now-nearly-everything-is-better-than-its-ever-been\/\" target=\"_blank\">Things are just getting better<\/a>, all across the board. BUT, there are still some crappy little downward notches in the larger upward curve. We\u2019re in one of those \u2014 the American Dream has lost coherence - and we are desperate for something big, something to inspire and unite us, something more than, oh I don\u2019t know, the impotent &amp; mentally retarded discourse of America\u2019s pathetic political charade, for example.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"\"><strong>A leap too far? Overgeneralizing? Pandering to the Dumb? Just dumb?<\/strong><\/span><br \/> Well, I suppose it\u2019s possible that the population of the U.S. who find themselves anywhere on the mildly-curious-to-completely-rapt scale of interest in the iPhone 5\u2019s pending release are a poor sample from which to gauge the attitude of a nation. But for that to be the case it would have to be in another universe with different rules. <strong><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0\">Because A<\/span><\/strong>: There are around 310 million people in the U.S., and about 100 million are smartphone users, and I\u2019d guess (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/blog\/btl\/survey-35-percent-of-us-consumers-will-buy-iphone-5\/53123\" target=\"_blank\">and read survey data reporting<\/a>) that a strong percentage of them are pretty interested in learning about or buying the iPhone 5 \u2014 so if you think such a massive population block that is engaged and ready to take action on an issue provides a poor statistical sample, well then, you can\u2019t count.<strong><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0\"> And because B<\/span><\/strong>: those 100 million people have nothing else to give a shit about.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"\">The iPhone 5, Insidiously Alluring in a Vacuum!<\/span><br \/>\n<\/strong>So what the hell am I saying here? Well, The iPhone is an incredible device that quite literally represents a truckload of previously impossible mobile functionality. Think about it \u2014 just 4.5 years ago it didn\u2019t exist, and the App Store (which has been copied by, ummm\u2026 everyone) is barely over 3 years old. It\u2019s a beautifully designed tool, elegantly powerful in so many ways. But, it\u2019s no revelation, it\u2019s just a very precedented technological creation of late 2011; it\u2019s a consumer product \u2014 and in another year, we\u2019ll want the next version, and the next, and so on.<\/p>\n<p>Physical artifacts are usually outshined by big ideas, but the thing is this: while we\u2019re lousy with the former, we\u2019re fresh out of the latter.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"\"><strong>Projecting<\/strong><\/span><br \/> Now this isn\u2019t about dorks like myself and those inhabiting this higher ranks of sciencyness and geekdom \u2014 we\u2019ve got plenty to excite us. But everyday humans in the U.S., where traditional notions of culture are diffuse and diluted, tend to unite around ideas and ideals \u2014 and very often those drive and\/or are a product of scientific or technological advancement of some kind \u2014 and sometimes, that can inspire others around the world.\u00c2 The mass-production of automobiles and human flight inspired notions of the freedom of movement, TV launched and inspired vast visual creativity, and following the Soviet advances, the Apollo missions united the nation, gave new appreciation for the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pale_Blue_Dot\" target=\"_blank\">Pale Blue Dot<\/a>, ROI-ed ten$ of billion$, and inspired the rest of the world to continue pushing into the frontier of space. And, American computer technology, much of it pioneered by Apple, jumpstarted what will probably be <a href=\"http:\/\/anthrobotic.com\/2011\/06\/29\/technology-created-organized-religion-next-project-cults-for-against-the-singularity\/\" target=\"_blank\">the single largest paradigm shift in the history of our species<\/a>. It\u2019s become natural for us to see great positivity and opportunity in our technological achievements.<\/p>\n<p>Americans fundamentally appreciate and embrace innovation, and we want look to the future with hope, longing for new ideas and new developments that create new economies and new possibilities. But for the time being now, our American Dream is stuck in neutral and we have no common rallying point. Our nation\u2019s greatest point of unity and excitement and anticipation is for the release of another mobile telecommunications device \u2014 the best thing we have to look forward to is Tim Cook, 10:00am, PST.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"\"><strong>Well That\u2019s not so Uplifting Now, is it?<\/strong><\/span><br \/> We desperately want good news, we desperately want a new great project stabbing toward some awesome goal \u2014 and there\u2019s just\u2026 nothing there. The economy is crap, there is no great leader to inspire us, and there is no great undertaking for the betterment of all humankind. That\u2019s where the iPhone 5 anticipation energy comes from. Americans want what is new, we want to push forward, we want profound ideas to inspire us now and for decades to come \u2014 it\u2019s in the fabric of the nation. If we were about to launch a manned mission to Mars, or a Manhattan Project-style energy initiative, or building hotels on the moon, this announcement would be but a spark.<\/p>\n<p>Myself and millions will soon have a state of the art, super cool new phone. And the Dream will stay on break. Such is life. But it\u2019s not gone, and do check back later \u2014 we might have <a href=\"http:\/\/anthrobotic.com\/2011\/09\/08\/virgin-spaceport-soon-to-have-its-first-intimate-experience-with-private-astronauts\/\" target=\"_blank\">space tourism<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/anthrobotic.com\/2011\/09\/15\/lasers-fusion-california-and-europe-a-dead-sexy-energy-initiative\/\" target=\"_blank\">near-infinite fusion energy<\/a> pretty soon!<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s Tuesday night here in Japan \u2014 going to sleep.<br \/> I\u2019ll check the morning news straight away, and I\u2019ll be excited about the phone I will own in a few short weeks. It\u2019ll be awesome, I\u2019m sure. And the world\u2019s most valuable company will get more valuable, I\u2019m sure.<\/p>\n<p>Aside from the next-next iPhone and a new figurehead, will another year bring anything new? Not so sure.<em><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>(<strong><\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/anthrobotic.com\/category\/curiosity\/#.UFCvgqRihhA\" target=\"_blank\">The Nuclear-Powered Science Robot Dune Buggy with Lasers<\/a> came close, didn\u2019t it?)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><em><strong>_______________<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><strong><\/strong>Thanks for reading!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>-Reno at <a href=\"http:\/\/anthrobotic.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Anthrobotic.com<\/a><strong><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><em><strong>_______________<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>iPhone 5 Hyper-Anticipation: It Didn\u2019t Mean What You Think it Meant (AGAIN) iPhone 5 Hyper-Anticipation: It Didn\u2019t Mean What You Think it Meant (AGAIN) Okay, now \u2014 bear with me on this \u2014 and check it out: For now and for better or worse, The United States is home to a plurality of the world\u2019s [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":231,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,40,39,46,24],"tags":[1020,1021,2146,2143,336,2147,2135,1019],"class_list":["post-4991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-complex-systems","category-economics","category-events","category-rants","tag-anthrobotic","tag-anthrobotic-com","tag-business","tag-complex-systems","tag-economics-tag","tag-events","tag-rants","tag-reno-j-tibke"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/231"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4991"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57138,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4991\/revisions\/57138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}