In the Absence of Real Information...

by Tom Bridge

...we start to draw at straws. Let me begin by saying that Erica's a top-notch blogger, and this certainly isn't a swipe at her, but really, would we be obsessing over the names in the iPhone commercials if we actually knew anything at all about the iPhone? We know the iPhone does EDGE and WiFi. We know the iPhone has email and internet applications. We know that there's a neato Maps application.

But that's it. The iPhone could be summed up more by what we don't know than what we do know.

When was the last time we knew so little about an upcoming product? It's been six months since the Apple site was first graced with the presence of the iPhone section, and since that date, absolutely nothing else has come out of Apple's lips. Steve even refused to say word one about it at D5, where he gushed about pretty much everything else. Granted, the FCC application process is certainly a part of that, as it makes public what is largely taken care of inside Apple's secret Northern California laboratories by myriad test engineers in white coats with Apple logos embroidered on their breast. But is that it entirely? Or is there more to Apple's identity than just alluring products? Perhaps, too, Apple's identity is tied up in security that would make most intelligence agencies weep with joy.

10 Comments

Mike
2007-06-07 12:02:33 		Does anyone care? This IS an Apple *development* site isn't it? Or at least it used to be. Now all it seems to be is a MacRumors-type thing and a hacker page where people talk about taking apart their AppleTV.


Do you people have any intentions of actually posting some *development* information? If not I am deleting you from my daily bookmarks.

Tom Bridge
2007-06-07 12:09:47 		Mike, that's part of the big question surrounding the iPhone, honestly. We don't know if you can develop for it, we don't know what web folks need to do to support it. It's all part of the same problem, really, and that's Apple's tightlipped issues we're dealing with.


That said, it's the week before WWDC, Mike. Chill out. There'll be plenty of developer stuff next week. Well, what we can publish on the internet anyway.

Huh
2007-06-07 12:25:00 		"almost exactly" ???


I stopped reading then.

Tom Bridge
2007-06-07 12:32:42 		Thanks for the point-out, Huh, I've taken it out. Still need to get my cliche regex in place for draft 1.


Thanks also for being a real pedant. ;)

Chris W
2007-06-07 14:48:34 		Erica is not really what I'd call a top-notch blogger... Her posts on all this AppleTV pseudohacking have been pretty lame. This one on the names in the iPhone commercial is just more of the same wankery.


This site used to have some decent articles and now I think it is on the verge of going off my subscription list.

McGraw
2007-06-07 14:48:35 		As long as we're discussing pedantry, exactly what does "draw at straws" mean?


To "grasp at straws" means to grasp for things that are too small to save you. The analogy is to a drowning person grasping at floating pieces of straw or bits of wood. The straws float, but they are all far too small to keep the drownee afloat.


To "draw straws" means to randomly choose one person by selecting straws of random length with their tops visible and aligned, but their lower ends hidden. Whoever gets the short straw wins (or loses).


The only thing I can imagine for "draw at straws" involves a hip-holstered handgun. And even on a slow day, I think I can outdraw a straw, or even a strawman.
George Munchoen
2007-06-07 22:36:12 		I hate to dogpile, but it's certainly true that the MacDevCenter has gone downhill. Too many rumors, too much misinformation and speculation (I'm looking at you, Erica), and very, very little about actual development. That is what "Dev" stands for in the title, right? What a shame.


And now this article, which has nothing to say at all.

Major Appleseed
2007-06-08 10:28:12 		At least we have http://cocoablogs.com/ - Thank God for Scott Stevenson


MacDevCenter has become a second macrumors.com.

pauldwaite
2007-06-09 05:18:47 		> "When was the last time we knew so little about an upcoming product?"


Er, AppleTV? We know more about iPhone than we did about iPod 3 weeks before its launch. Apple is hardly getting less secret as time goes on.


2007-06-09 07:54:06 		Tacky.
 
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