iPhone 4S: Proof Americans Are Unpredictable Consumers

04.10.11 | 7 notes | AppleTim Cookiphone 4siCloudSiriYelp

Americans want it all for next to nothing. They want extreme innovation every year. They want lines of credit without fees. A friend in the financial business was venting to me saying people shouldn’t be mad about BofA charging fees because that’s how they make money. I guess we have a love/hate relationship with capitalism. We always have. Still I can understand getting mad about more banking fees because my bank (unpaid plug: Cambridge Savings Bank) gives me 2% interest and charges no ATM fees, all in exchange for direct deposit, usage of my debit card to pay for things 10X/month, and electronic statements. 

But what I don’t understand is disappointment with the iPhone 4S. I guess now is the perfect time to say I’m an Apple shareholder and a cult member. That said I still have a BlackBerry because Verizon won’t let me “upgrade” until January 2012 (translation: they won’t give me the subsidized price now.)

So Tim Cook gets up on stage and has the world waiting for another near miracle. The presentation was a bit too long and did take too long to get to the iPhone update. That said, they noted these new features, which apparently weren’t enough to wow customers.

• iCloud functionality & iOS 5
• 8 megapixel camera that is 33% faster than the existing model
• Video recording in full 1080p HD
• World phone
• Switches between two antennas to send and receive
• Dual-core A5 chip for faster processing
• “Personal assistant” software Siri, which can read and send texts, set alarms, search for restaurants via Yelp, and change appointments, all from verbal commands.

Oh, and by the way, iCloud, which is free, launches October 12.