IPhone: iPhone Re-Reviewed (Verdict: Don't Buy)
It's about 3 months after the iPhone launch, and happy with the improvements, I was planning to change our "Wait" verdict to a full-on and rabid "Buy". That wasn't because of Apple, but because of the cool apps being offered by independent developers.
Context & Ripple Effects
The September re-review lands three months after launch reviews that, whatever their quibbles, framed the device as a glimpse of the future, with Valleywag's scorecard tracking a mostly favorable critical consensus. By July the open questions were service-side — GigaOM's AT&T confession flagged carrier issues still to come.
What changed since then sits in the relationships file: Apple cut the iPhone's U.S. price and now faces a customer lawsuit naming Jobs and AT&T, and it is locked in an open war with hackers over iPhone security — the backdrop for the same-day syndicated pickups (New York Times on altered iPhones freezing up, Salon's 'if you care about your rights' argument). The reviewer wanted to upgrade his 'Wait' verdict to 'Buy' on the strength of independent developers' apps; the 'Don't Buy' instead reflects Apple's control fight, not the hardware.
First-order effects
- Prospective buyers now weigh update risk directly: altered (unlocked or third-party-app-loaded) iPhones freezing up under Apple's official 1.1.1 firmware means the enthusiast modding route carries real device-bricking cost.
- Apple's price-cut rebate handling has already produced a customer suit against Apple, Jobs, and AT&T, so the store-front purchase experience itself is part of the verdict.
Second-order effects
- Independent developers whose apps made the reviewer want to say 'Buy' are stranded between demand for their software and Apple's security crackdown, pushing the ecosystem toward unofficial distribution channels Apple treats as adversaries.
- A high-profile 'Don't Buy' from a gadget flagship amplifies the rights-and-control critique (Salon's angle) into mainstream purchase guidance, raising the reputational stakes of Apple's lockdown decisions at exactly the moment its overall reputation is described as hinging on these iPhone battles.
Third-order effects
- The review signals a structural shift in how smartphones get judged: not by hardware alone but by who controls what runs on the device — putting pressure on Apple to formalize a sanctioned path for third-party applications rather than fight every hack individually.
- If the pattern holds, carrier-plus-manufacturer control of handset functionality (the AT&T exclusivity layered under Apple's firmware grip) becomes the durable regulatory and consumer-rights fault line for the mobile industry.
The trend: Phone reviews are becoming platform-governance reviews, with openness versus manufacturer lock-in displacing specs as the factor that swings buy recommendations.