What I learned by sitting in an Apple store during WWDC

June 10, 2008 By

Yesterday morning I was in the San Francisco Apple Store. I was watching these sites:

1. FriendFeed. Refreshed it every 15 seconds.
2. MacRumorsLive. Automatically was refreshing on a browser.
3. TechCrunch, when I could get to it.
4. Engadget. Refreshing every 15 seconds.
5. Gizmodo. Refreshing every 15 seconds.
6. TechMeme (which, now, is showing all the best posts).

Plus, there were lots of Apple fans in the store and many were doing similar routines to me (refreshing pages trying to learn the latest news).

So, what did I learn?

Well, for one, FriendFeed was better than any of the other sites. Why? Because it had all the sites and more. Most of the time I learned about the latest Steve Jobs announcent on FriendFeed 45 seconds before I saw it pop up on MacRumorsLive. It was consistent enough that it amazed me.

Plus, the commentary was higher quality there.

Plus, people would point out who had the best stuff. The community was doing comparison shopping in live time and it was glorious for someone like me.

At the end of the day I knew before anyone else in the store that there wouldn’t be anything shipped yesterday. There were still 20 people in line when I left and they didn’t believe me that a phone wouldn’t be coming. I said “I have friends at the show and they say there’s nothing coming.” They wanted to believe. I let them believe and left.

I did something different this time, though. I “liked” each good Tweet, each blog, each photo, etc. that came in. Hundreds of them. I wish I could repost them all here, but that wouldn’t be any fun because it’s pretty much old news anyway.

But my Discussion page was rocking and rolling with new things showing up there every few seconds. Overall the consensus was FriendFeed was best, MacRumorsLive was close second, and Gizmodo had the best photos.

Some key points that are being missed:

1. The new iPhone is NOT that much cheaper. Yeah, it’s $199, but you have to sign a two-year-contract and the 3G network plan is $10 a month more expensive. So, do the math. It isn’t cheaper.

2. The camera continues to disappoint. It really sucks compared to my Nokia N82. When I get my new 3G I’ll do some demonstrations.

3. Video? Not a word. Steve Jobs usually makes a big deal of things when he has them, especially sexy things like video. Nokia is safe for another generation because of this one feature alone.

Other things I liked?

1. GPS. I wonder if Apple is going to do something really cool with this.

2. Battery life. Longer is better and this delivers.

Put it all together and I’ll buy one. But I’d buy one even if it were a pile of dung. Why? To be able to tell you it’s a pile of dung, of course. So take that with a grain of salt.

Anyway, the lesson I learned is that FriendFeed was a major winner today.

Oh, and VentureBeat deserves the credit for posting to FriendFeed directly. That was a major reason why FriendFeed was faster than the other major blogs. Look at the conversation underneath each post, this was happening in live time and was really great for me to see how things were being perceived.

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  • http://correlate.wordpress.com/ Lou Paglia

    why be upset with Apple? they are running a business and selling products/services that people want. I have no problem with them coming out with a new generation and better product offering and charging more over the life of ownership. It doesn’t make sense to not do that and to market it exactly how they are marketing it. It is the only incentive to keep innovating.

    smart business move. great products. solid strategy. smart pricing.

  • http://correlate.wordpress.com Lou Paglia

    why be upset with Apple? they are running a business and selling products/services that people want. I have no problem with them coming out with a new generation and better product offering and charging more over the life of ownership. It doesn’t make sense to not do that and to market it exactly how they are marketing it. It is the only incentive to keep innovating.

    smart business move. great products. solid strategy. smart pricing.

  • Ryan Eibling

    > Video? Not a word. Steve Jobs usually makes a big deal of things when he has them, especially sexy things like video. Nokia is safe for another generation because of this one feature alone.

    Nope. Video recording is already possible with a jailbroken 1st gen iPhone via a third-party app. I’ve used it myself and it works pretty well. The only thing required for iPhone 3G video recording is software, so I’m sure something will be available whether it’s part of the base iPhone software or in the App Store.

  • Ryan Eibling

    > Video? Not a word. Steve Jobs usually makes a big deal of things when he has them, especially sexy things like video. Nokia is safe for another generation because of this one feature alone.

    Nope. Video recording is already possible with a jailbroken 1st gen iPhone via a third-party app. I’ve used it myself and it works pretty well. The only thing required for iPhone 3G video recording is software, so I’m sure something will be available whether it’s part of the base iPhone software or in the App Store.

  • Ryan Eibling

    > Video? Not a word. Steve Jobs usually makes a big deal of things when he has them, especially sexy things like video. Nokia is safe for another generation because of this one feature alone.

    Nope. Video recording is already possible with a jailbroken 1st gen iPhone via a third-party app. I’ve used it myself and it works pretty well. The only thing required for iPhone 3G video recording is software, so I’m sure something will be available whether it’s part of the base iPhone software or in the App Store.

  • Ryan Eibling

    > Video? Not a word. Steve Jobs usually makes a big deal of things when he has them, especially sexy things like video. Nokia is safe for another generation because of this one feature alone.

    Nope. Video recording is already possible with a jailbroken 1st gen iPhone via a third-party app. I’ve used it myself and it works pretty well. The only thing required for iPhone 3G video recording is software, so I’m sure something will be available whether it’s part of the base iPhone software or in the App Store.

  • Ryan Eibling

    > Video? Not a word. Steve Jobs usually makes a big deal of things when he has them, especially sexy things like video. Nokia is safe for another generation because of this one feature alone.

    Nope. Video recording is already possible with a jailbroken 1st gen iPhone via a third-party app. I’ve used it myself and it works pretty well. The only thing required for iPhone 3G video recording is software, so I’m sure something will be available whether it’s part of the base iPhone software or in the App Store.

  • Ryan Eibling

    > Video? Not a word. Steve Jobs usually makes a big deal of things when he has them, especially sexy things like video. Nokia is safe for another generation because of this one feature alone.

    Nope. Video recording is already possible with a jailbroken 1st gen iPhone via a third-party app. I’ve used it myself and it works pretty well. The only thing required for iPhone 3G video recording is software, so I’m sure something will be available whether it’s part of the base iPhone software or in the App Store.

  • Ryan Eibling

    > Video? Not a word. Steve Jobs usually makes a big deal of things when he has them, especially sexy things like video. Nokia is safe for another generation because of this one feature alone.

    Nope. Video recording is already possible with a jailbroken 1st gen iPhone via a third-party app. I’ve used it myself and it works pretty well. The only thing required for iPhone 3G video recording is software, so I’m sure something will be available whether it’s part of the base iPhone software or in the App Store.

  • Ryan Eibling

    > Video? Not a word. Steve Jobs usually makes a big deal of things when he has them, especially sexy things like video. Nokia is safe for another generation because of this one feature alone.

    Nope. Video recording is already possible with a jailbroken 1st gen iPhone via a third-party app. I’ve used it myself and it works pretty well. The only thing required for iPhone 3G video recording is software, so I’m sure something will be available whether it’s part of the base iPhone software or in the App Store.

  • Ryan Eibling

    > Video? Not a word. Steve Jobs usually makes a big deal of things when he has them, especially sexy things like video. Nokia is safe for another generation because of this one feature alone.

    Nope. Video recording is already possible with a jailbroken 1st gen iPhone via a third-party app. I’ve used it myself and it works pretty well. The only thing required for iPhone 3G video recording is software, so I’m sure something will be available whether it’s part of the base iPhone software or in the App Store.

  • Ryan Eibling

    > Video? Not a word. Steve Jobs usually makes a big deal of things when he has them, especially sexy things like video. Nokia is safe for another generation because of this one feature alone.

    Nope. Video recording is already possible with a jailbroken 1st gen iPhone via a third-party app. I’ve used it myself and it works pretty well. The only thing required for iPhone 3G video recording is software, so I’m sure something will be available whether it’s part of the base iPhone software or in the App Store.

  • Ryan Eibling

    > Video? Not a word. Steve Jobs usually makes a big deal of things when he has them, especially sexy things like video. Nokia is safe for another generation because of this one feature alone.

    Nope. Video recording is already possible with a jailbroken 1st gen iPhone via a third-party app. I’ve used it myself and it works pretty well. The only thing required for iPhone 3G video recording is software, so I’m sure something will be available whether it’s part of the base iPhone software or in the App Store.

  • Ryan Eibling

    Besides what Lou Paglia said, Apple is the wrong target for disappointment or anger over pricing. It’s been widely reported that Apple will no longer be sharing revenue from the service, so *they* aren’t taking more money from you over the life of the contract. It’s AT&T getting that extra $10, and it’s AT&T requiring the 2-year contract (which is understandable if they’re the ones taking the hit for the price reduction).

  • Ryan Eibling

    Besides what Lou Paglia said, Apple is the wrong target for disappointment or anger over pricing. It’s been widely reported that Apple will no longer be sharing revenue from the service, so *they* aren’t taking more money from you over the life of the contract. It’s AT&T getting that extra $10, and it’s AT&T requiring the 2-year contract (which is understandable if they’re the ones taking the hit for the price reduction).

  • Ryan Eibling

    Besides what Lou Paglia said, Apple is the wrong target for disappointment or anger over pricing. It’s been widely reported that Apple will no longer be sharing revenue from the service, so *they* aren’t taking more money from you over the life of the contract. It’s AT&T getting that extra $10, and it’s AT&T requiring the 2-year contract (which is understandable if they’re the ones taking the hit for the price reduction).

  • Ryan Eibling

    Besides what Lou Paglia said, Apple is the wrong target for disappointment or anger over pricing. It’s been widely reported that Apple will no longer be sharing revenue from the service, so *they* aren’t taking more money from you over the life of the contract. It’s AT&T getting that extra $10, and it’s AT&T requiring the 2-year contract (which is understandable if they’re the ones taking the hit for the price reduction).

  • Ryan Eibling

    Besides what Lou Paglia said, Apple is the wrong target for disappointment or anger over pricing. It’s been widely reported that Apple will no longer be sharing revenue from the service, so *they* aren’t taking more money from you over the life of the contract. It’s AT&T getting that extra $10, and it’s AT&T requiring the 2-year contract (which is understandable if they’re the ones taking the hit for the price reduction).

  • Ryan Eibling

    Besides what Lou Paglia said, Apple is the wrong target for disappointment or anger over pricing. It’s been widely reported that Apple will no longer be sharing revenue from the service, so *they* aren’t taking more money from you over the life of the contract. It’s AT&T getting that extra $10, and it’s AT&T requiring the 2-year contract (which is understandable if they’re the ones taking the hit for the price reduction).

  • Ryan Eibling

    Besides what Lou Paglia said, Apple is the wrong target for disappointment or anger over pricing. It’s been widely reported that Apple will no longer be sharing revenue from the service, so *they* aren’t taking more money from you over the life of the contract. It’s AT&T getting that extra $10, and it’s AT&T requiring the 2-year contract (which is understandable if they’re the ones taking the hit for the price reduction).

  • Ryan Eibling

    Besides what Lou Paglia said, Apple is the wrong target for disappointment or anger over pricing. It’s been widely reported that Apple will no longer be sharing revenue from the service, so *they* aren’t taking more money from you over the life of the contract. It’s AT&T getting that extra $10, and it’s AT&T requiring the 2-year contract (which is understandable if they’re the ones taking the hit for the price reduction).

  • Ryan Eibling

    Besides what Lou Paglia said, Apple is the wrong target for disappointment or anger over pricing. It’s been widely reported that Apple will no longer be sharing revenue from the service, so *they* aren’t taking more money from you over the life of the contract. It’s AT&T getting that extra $10, and it’s AT&T requiring the 2-year contract (which is understandable if they’re the ones taking the hit for the price reduction).

  • Ryan Eibling

    Besides what Lou Paglia said, Apple is the wrong target for disappointment or anger over pricing. It’s been widely reported that Apple will no longer be sharing revenue from the service, so *they* aren’t taking more money from you over the life of the contract. It’s AT&T getting that extra $10, and it’s AT&T requiring the 2-year contract (which is understandable if they’re the ones taking the hit for the price reduction).

  • Ryan Eibling

    Besides what Lou Paglia said, Apple is the wrong target for disappointment or anger over pricing. It’s been widely reported that Apple will no longer be sharing revenue from the service, so *they* aren’t taking more money from you over the life of the contract. It’s AT&T getting that extra $10, and it’s AT&T requiring the 2-year contract (which is understandable if they’re the ones taking the hit for the price reduction).

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  • http://www.livedigitally.com/ Jeremy Toeman

    To play a little devil’s advocate… I only did one thing during the keynote – refreshed the Engadget feed every few minutes. I got all the same news you did, and was able to do other work at the same time. The consensus that FF was the best was most likely derived from the fact that all the people in the conversation were all FF-lovers! And frankly, how many of them are experts in mobile tech, gadgetry, consumers, or any other domain-relevant topic? No offense to FF or its users, but I’m much more interested in reading Ryan’s commentary than I am hearing about the iPhone market from a “random technologist”…

  • http://www.livedigitally.com Jeremy Toeman

    To play a little devil’s advocate… I only did one thing during the keynote – refreshed the Engadget feed every few minutes. I got all the same news you did, and was able to do other work at the same time. The consensus that FF was the best was most likely derived from the fact that all the people in the conversation were all FF-lovers! And frankly, how many of them are experts in mobile tech, gadgetry, consumers, or any other domain-relevant topic? No offense to FF or its users, but I’m much more interested in reading Ryan’s commentary than I am hearing about the iPhone market from a “random technologist”…

  • http://www.kf6nvr.net/blog Shane Conder

    I had to be at a car appointment, so I was watching on a phone. The easiest site for that? Engadget. Until it got so big that the phone I was using started crashing. Then I just watched twitter.

    The iPhone 3G really isn’t a second gen iPhone — it’s just a refresh of the current iPhone. I mean, iPhone +3G+GPS + 2 year contract plus $10/mo isn’t really all that compelling. In particular, I’m still making due with a GoPhone plan that works great with both my N95 and my iPhone. Oh well.

    So when’s the iPhone 2 coming out?

  • http://www.kf6nvr.net/blog Shane Conder

    I had to be at a car appointment, so I was watching on a phone. The easiest site for that? Engadget. Until it got so big that the phone I was using started crashing. Then I just watched twitter.

    The iPhone 3G really isn’t a second gen iPhone — it’s just a refresh of the current iPhone. I mean, iPhone +3G+GPS + 2 year contract plus $10/mo isn’t really all that compelling. In particular, I’m still making due with a GoPhone plan that works great with both my N95 and my iPhone. Oh well.

    So when’s the iPhone 2 coming out?

  • http://venturebeat.com/ MG Siegler

    Thanks Robert, glad you enjoyed the FriendFeed stream.

  • http://venturebeat.com MG Siegler

    Thanks Robert, glad you enjoyed the FriendFeed stream.

  • http://johngiannakos.com/ John Giannakos

    Come on you guys, the iPhone was $399 for 8gb when it first came out and that was with a 2 or 3 year contract with AT&T. Every phone on the market is advertised this way.

    The bottom line is you go to an Apple Store, you buy the phone for $199 and you unlock it via ziphone or ijailbreak. That’s what millions of people have been doing for months, and thats what I will do again, with the new iPhone.

  • http://johngiannakos.com John Giannakos

    Come on you guys, the iPhone was $399 for 8gb when it first came out and that was with a 2 or 3 year contract with AT&T. Every phone on the market is advertised this way.

    The bottom line is you go to an Apple Store, you buy the phone for $199 and you unlock it via ziphone or ijailbreak. That’s what millions of people have been doing for months, and thats what I will do again, with the new iPhone.

  • http://ironylovescompany.com/ Aaron Weiss

    It’s not like Steve Jobs to cut prices out of the goodness of his heart.

    Combine yesterday’s mostly non-announcement with the rumors about upgraded cameras and video capabilities, and you get a nice picture of “negative space” in the iPhone lineup.

    Knowing full well that the Scobles of the world will happily spend $500 on a new phone with the latest bells and whistles, I expect a video-centric iPhone upgrade by the end of the year — it’ll be an extra $10 a month for service, but come with unlimited video streaming from two cameras — a high-quality one on the back, and a lower-quality one behind the screen for face-to-face conferencing.

  • Aaron

    It’s not like Steve Jobs to cut prices out of the goodness of his heart.

    Combine yesterday’s mostly non-announcement with the rumors about upgraded cameras and video capabilities, and you get a nice picture of “negative space” in the iPhone lineup.

    Knowing full well that the Scobles of the world will happily spend $500 on a new phone with the latest bells and whistles, I expect a video-centric iPhone upgrade by the end of the year — it’ll be an extra $10 a month for service, but come with unlimited video streaming from two cameras — a high-quality one on the back, and a lower-quality one behind the screen for face-to-face conferencing.

  • Czech Mate

    Scoble,

    I’m really getting tired of the snark factor in a lot of the blogs coverage of the Apple keynotes. It’s like going to a movie and siting behind someone who throws snide remarks all thru the movie.
    TAUW was terrible, gizmodo’s younger blogger started out insulting some of the guests, Engadget was o so bored(they had great pics tho).

    They’re all trying to be Jon Stewert, but failing miserably.
    Ars and macworld were good ,cause they kept their attempts at snark to a minimum.

    They were kinda funny a couple of years ago, but now they have all jumped the snark.

    For the Apple keynotes from now on, I’m gonna wait a couple of hours and watch it w/out the juvenile snark bait.

  • Czech Mate

    Scoble,

    I’m really getting tired of the snark factor in a lot of the blogs coverage of the Apple keynotes. It’s like going to a movie and siting behind someone who throws snide remarks all thru the movie.
    TAUW was terrible, gizmodo’s younger blogger started out insulting some of the guests, Engadget was o so bored(they had great pics tho).

    They’re all trying to be Jon Stewert, but failing miserably.
    Ars and macworld were good ,cause they kept their attempts at snark to a minimum.

    They were kinda funny a couple of years ago, but now they have all jumped the snark.

    For the Apple keynotes from now on, I’m gonna wait a couple of hours and watch it w/out the juvenile snark bait.

  • What’s the frequency, Kenneth?

    So, what did you LEARN? I read it, and I didn’t learn anything, except that you have friends who run something called FriendFeed and felt the need to pimp it.

    Waste of time. Thanks!

  • What’s the frequency, Kenneth?

    So, what did you LEARN? I read it, and I didn’t learn anything, except that you have friends who run something called FriendFeed and felt the need to pimp it.

    Waste of time. Thanks!

  • Marc

    A pretty astute post. I have to admit that I’d like to like it more than I do, but I do think that the application development possibilities are pretty remarkable. Folks at Scroll Motion put together a video to that effect: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irXCMdRprfw
    Now if only you could SHOOT a video with your iPhone – then it’d make a lot more sense for everyone.

  • Marc

    A pretty astute post. I have to admit that I’d like to like it more than I do, but I do think that the application development possibilities are pretty remarkable. Folks at Scroll Motion put together a video to that effect: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irXCMdRprfw
    Now if only you could SHOOT a video with your iPhone – then it’d make a lot more sense for everyone.

  • Damien Hogan

    “Most of the time I learned about the latest Steve Jobs announcement on FriendFeed 45 seconds before I saw it pop up on MacRumorsLive”

    The real world benefit of that “advantage” is hard to see for us mere mortals. If I may translate, so that you can get a feeling for how others may perceive that comment…

    “Most of the time the latest Steve Jobs announcement on FriendFeed was in 11 point type, whereas MacRumorsLive was using 10.5 point type”

  • Damien Hogan

    “Most of the time I learned about the latest Steve Jobs announcement on FriendFeed 45 seconds before I saw it pop up on MacRumorsLive”

    The real world benefit of that “advantage” is hard to see for us mere mortals. If I may translate, so that you can get a feeling for how others may perceive that comment…

    “Most of the time the latest Steve Jobs announcement on FriendFeed was in 11 point type, whereas MacRumorsLive was using 10.5 point type”

  • Graham

    The funny thing is that those who are saying its no cheaper due to TCO were the ones who were saying the iPhone was too expensive a week ago. TCO of the original iPhone was generally a decent price. you jut paid more up front and had a slightly cheaper data plan.

  • Graham

    The funny thing is that those who are saying its no cheaper due to TCO were the ones who were saying the iPhone was too expensive a week ago. TCO of the original iPhone was generally a decent price. you jut paid more up front and had a slightly cheaper data plan.

  • Geoff

    Well, Damien, you don’t seem to understand technology very well.

    You see, Robert could have waited until the keynote was over, so that he could read a summary from a reputable source like a normal person. But those carefully prepared summaries wouldn’t contain the hastily written, poorly thought out semi-facts of the quickly fired-off Friendfeed tidbits, nor would they contain all of those charming typos and that oh-so-cute lack of punctuation.

    Or, he could have relied solely on one of these other, crappier sites for his “live” reports. But… come on. Those sites were, like, full seconds behind Friendfeed! *Seconds*, man!

    So, Robert used Friendfeed, a service that was created and maintained by Mohamed, Jesus Christ, Buddha and Vishnu. Thanks to this wisest of choices, Robert knew things a full 45 seconds before anyone else in the world, he says! (Except for the many people who were actually there. Or the many people who listened to the direct audio stream.) Why, he was amazed, Robert was!

    With this extra 45 second headstart on most of the rest of the world, Robert was able to do…. well, nothing. But he did manage to waste an hour or so, and attracted a few dozen concerned stares in an Apple Store while he was feverishly refreshing several pages, when reading the full summary a few seconds after the event concluded would have taken him only five minutes.

    You see, savvy users like Robert know that technology is really all about making our less complicated and more efficient. Friendfeed, man — it’ll change your life.

  • Geoff

    Well, Damien, you don’t seem to understand technology very well.

    You see, Robert could have waited until the keynote was over, so that he could read a summary from a reputable source like a normal person. But those carefully prepared summaries wouldn’t contain the hastily written, poorly thought out semi-facts of the quickly fired-off Friendfeed tidbits, nor would they contain all of those charming typos and that oh-so-cute lack of punctuation.

    Or, he could have relied solely on one of these other, crappier sites for his “live” reports. But… come on. Those sites were, like, full seconds behind Friendfeed! *Seconds*, man!

    So, Robert used Friendfeed, a service that was created and maintained by Mohamed, Jesus Christ, Buddha and Vishnu. Thanks to this wisest of choices, Robert knew things a full 45 seconds before anyone else in the world, he says! (Except for the many people who were actually there. Or the many people who listened to the direct audio stream.) Why, he was amazed, Robert was!

    With this extra 45 second headstart on most of the rest of the world, Robert was able to do…. well, nothing. But he did manage to waste an hour or so, and attracted a few dozen concerned stares in an Apple Store while he was feverishly refreshing several pages, when reading the full summary a few seconds after the event concluded would have taken him only five minutes.

    You see, savvy users like Robert know that technology is really all about making our less complicated and more efficient. Friendfeed, man — it’ll change your life.

  • C. Cane

    I agree with L. Paglia and others; the current second-best devices from Motorola/LG/Nokia etc. have yet to even come close to Apple’s innovations in the iPhone. Innovation. Vision. Thought leaders!

  • C. Cane

    I agree with L. Paglia and others; the current second-best devices from Motorola/LG/Nokia etc. have yet to even come close to Apple’s innovations in the iPhone. Innovation. Vision. Thought leaders!

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