Thursday February 21, 2008
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Thursday February 21, 2008 | Stupid iPhone Commercial | Computers |
The latest iPhone commercial tells me it's great to have an iPhone because I can "see the trail map while I'm on the mountain."
Really?
I feel so foolish carrying around that free paper map!
<sarcasm>
When I'm sitting on a chair lift, 50 feet over deep snow and wearing bulky gloves, my first inclination is to take out my $600 iPhone to look at the trail map. After I drop it, I'm sure that, in four months after the snow has melted, the friendly hikers bears who find it will return it to me.
</sarcasm>
Also, does anyone really expect to get 5 bar signal strenth and WiFi at the top of a mountain?
This is almost as bad as Bryce, the pilot, who had the tower move up his plane's departure time because he could see weather maps on his phone.
Tags: iphone marketing stupid
February 21, 2008 02:05 PM PST Permalink | Comments [14] |
Trackback URL: http://blogs.sun.com/kevin/entry/stupid_iphone_commercial
Comments:
I agree. My first thought was that I don't even get cell service in my basement, how will it work on a mountain? And where will I charge the battery? But then I remembered - Divas don't hike, so it's not an issue.
In Colorado, anyway, I can get decent cell coverage on some mountains while peak bagging. The ski map's indeed a silly application, but backcountry enthusiasts have been carrying expensive electronics into the wilderness for years now.
Actually, you CAN get decent cell phone signal (dunno about Wifi) when you are at the top of a mountain in Colorado. Well I remember my surprise, after hiking 3 grueling hours to the top of Mt. Sherman (I think), when another group of hikers whipped out their cell phones and called home from the peak. There was not a cell tower in sight (site?!), but unobstructed air does wonders sending and receiving radio waves.
Posted by patrick giagnocavo on March 05, 2008 at 10:39 PM PST #
If this guy had a iPhone he probaly wouldn't be knoking it so much!
Posted by Nick on March 07, 2008 at 12:46 PM PST #
Didn't it occur to you that might just be a PHOTO on his iPhone he stored to look at ?
Posted by Picture on April 01, 2008 at 08:01 AM PDT #
Hey Picture (if that is your real name),
Of course it could be a photo, but any camera-phone can do that! Or camera, for that matter. But you're right, I hadn't actually considered that.
at ski mountains there are often cell phones tower at the top, just in case you don't ski
Posted by eric on April 01, 2008 at 05:47 PM PDT #
Still, do you risk your iPhone when a paper map is safer? And free.
Buttermilk in Aspen has signal on top. I'm assuming you wouldn't be stupid enough to use it while you are on the lift, but it would be useful once you're on the mountain.
Posted by Michael on April 02, 2008 at 01:11 PM PDT #
Hey, I have an idea, Lets keep a product with a large open LCD in our pocket while enjoying a sport that often times involves falling down at high velocity. You might as well skip the whole Skiing part, and just keep your Iphone in your back pocket and sit on it all day.
Posted by EvilPrime on April 02, 2008 at 01:12 PM PDT #
Not sure about in america but when i was skiing this year in the portes du soleil in the alps there I had full signal at everypoint in the resorts no matter where I was in the ski area. I also had my camera out all of the time on the ski lifts and on the slopes and they are quite easy to keep hold of, I took pics of my brother while we were both moving. I think that this is a good idea because the paper maps for areas like the portes du soleil and three valleys are huge and flimsy so having a map on your phone is a great idea.
Also if it has gps in it, not sure if the iphone does or not, you can get all kinds of cool info like distance traveled, average speed and top speed. If you had this as well in your phone it would save on carrying something like a garmin gps telling you these things like i do when kiteboarding.
Posted by Richardkappa on April 04, 2008 at 04:33 AM PDT #
@picture: I think the fact that the iphone has 5 bars and the wi-fi signal is up in the picture implies that he's getting the map real-time.
But you missed the point, Kevin: iPhones are pretty much just status symbols, anyway, so they don't have to be really useful.
Posted by Kate on April 08, 2008 at 05:29 AM PDT #
Maybe you can get full signal up on that hill.
But really, would you rather look at a paper map that is probably at least the size of an 11x8.5 sheet, or look at a tiny version of it that you cant read?
Doesn't matter how they spin it, iPhone doesn't have 3G, nor GPS, nor a million things, (like, oh, i dunno, someway for the screen NOT to become a repository for finger grease). It's just a status symbol for people who don't want to admit they don't know anything about technology and that technology scares the crap out of them.
Posted by mrsleep on April 08, 2008 at 01:57 PM PDT #
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