Raster Media's Soapbox

The moment everyone was waiting for finally happened and it was quite possibly one of the most anti-climactic experiences of my short life. Here at Raster Media, there are some Droid fans in the office and some iPhone fans in the office. I have always been team iPhone, since the very first day that the very first iPhone was released. In some ways, I feel like my iPhone has changed my life. It IS that serious to me.

I have probably been waiting longer than most people for iPhone 5. I upgraded to iPhone 3gs in December of 2009 (yes, I remember dates/anniversaries). When iPhone 4 was released the next summer, I decided to listen to the chatter surrounding it before purchasing since I hadn’t purchased 3gs that long ago. Claims of faulty antennas combined with issues I was experiencing with my 3gs, iTunes (I run iTunes on a PC) and the “genius bar” turned me off. Even after the issues were addressed by Apple, I decided that I would just wait for iPhone 5 since iPhone 3gs is compatible with all iPhone 4 software anyway, minus some applications that require a front-facing camera.

So as I said, I have been waiting for iPhone 5 a bit longer than some folks who perhaps purchased their iPhone 4 last Christmas or so. Over the last few weeks, my excitement kicked into overdrive. I was in a frenzy from reading rumors of how great the iPhone was going to be, what new features it would offer, speculation about when it would be released, how much it was going to cost, etc. When they announced the press conference, I thought all of my wildest iPhone dreams were about to come true and that after over a year of waiting and speculation, the announcement that was going to send me over the moon was about to arrive.

And then it happened.

The announcement was made, or rather, not made. There will undoubtedly be an iPhone 5 and it will (hopefully) be epic, but it isn’t going to be released this October. And in that moment, all my dreams were shattered. iPhone 4S, which is basically iPhone 4 with a better camera, a better processor and a voice assistant. Really. THAT is what you give me after all this time? Is this the future of Apple sans Steve Jobs? In this moment, I need you to visualize a gorilla standing with its hands in the air, raring its teeth – THAT is what I felt like when I heard the announcement, or lack thereof. That’s probably what I looked like, too. The Droid lovers in my office laughed at me, but all of you iPhone lovers know that this is no laughing matter. We are all approaching upgrade due dates and now we have to shell out how much for iPhone 4S?!

I keep thinking in my head that they are going to say, “Just kidding,” and announce an iPhone 5 release in time for Christmas, or my birthday (February 20), or something. At the very least, I’m sure that iPhone 4 will now be sold at an extremely discounted price like they did with iPhone 3gs. And perhaps now, iPhone 5, when it finally is released, will be able to drive my car for me. What do you think – overly hopeful?

Whether this will turn customers completely off of iPhone is yet to be seen, but I do think that they are going to have to make iPhone 5 surpass any and all expectations of any smartphone if they want to keep their competitive edge against Droid.