Today, 17 June 2009, the new OS for the iPhone is to be released as a software update to the general public. I will whole heartedly admit that I got out of bed this morning at 3am EDT to see if the Apple servers were going to tick over at 12 midnight and make the software available. Unfortunately they did not, so I wasted a few hours watching the #iPhone trend on Twitter. I know, “a few hours” of watching a trend roll on Twitter sounds mind numbing—and to a certain extent it is. But in this particular instance something rather entertaining, if not completely frustrating, occurred.
Someone, somewhere decided that they were going to go to the Apple website and check to confirm the release date. A very reasonable idea, I did the same thing myself. However this particular person was on the SINGAPORE Apple website. So when the link swept through the Twitterverse and retypes of the dastardly “Apple has DELAYED iPhone OS3 until 18 June!” message sprung up, I investigated. It made absolutely no sense! I had just been to the website and it still said 17 June (or, more accurately “June 17th”). How was this possible! Had my browser cache pulled fleece over my eyes?! No. No, in fact I caught the difference almost immediately. The pictures were different. Apple Singapore’s iPhone OS 3 software update (http://www.apple.com/sg/iphone/softwareupdate/) page has very similar images, but not the same. The MMS roll on the phone (the third photo from the left) has “delete” buttons next to the messages. The photo on the USA site does not. I quickly reported this back to the Twitter trend… to no avail.
The idea the OS release was delayed spread like wildfire this morning, quickly inspiring a feeling of sheer astonishment in me. I really was taken aback by how many people were unaware that we all live on a giant sphere and that it cannot be the same time everywhere in the world at once. A few people picked up on my message to check the country of the website that was going around. A few figured it out on their own, I’m assuming, but the vast majority of people saw “delayed” and went into total panic mode.
Even now, at 1:06pm EDT on the 17th there are people sitting around WAITING, DEMANDING the update be released immediately. There are people saying they need it and can’t live without it and on and on and on. And I’m wondering if these people ever leave their desks… Do they go outside? Ever? Are they… Are WE so addicted to our gizmos and updates and iPhones and Crackberries that we really can’t live without them? It’s a scary thought.
I take my iPhone everywhere with me, but that’s exactly why I bought it. The iPhone, while totally awesome and geek-tacular in its own right, was a practical purchase for me. I cut down the number of items I carried in my pocket by two, and it’s been amazing! iPod, phone, and PDA/calendar book all in one. Brilliant! And, unlike my old phone, I haven’t lost it once—which is truly amazing, I assure you. But I think I could live without it… Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to try. My mobile phone is my primary means of communication and as my Verizon contract finally expired in April, I no longer have two phones. But I don’t need it. I don’t have many extra apps on my iPhone, so I’m not constantly on it. I carry it with me for music—something I can’t live without; emails—which I’d rather live without; and phone calls.
Anyway, iPhone’s new OS just became available for download. So I’m gonna go update my phone. 