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Realism: Verizon iPhone 4 will satisfy, but no free pony under seat

Realism: Verizon iPhone 4 will satisfy, but no free pony under seat

The longer a product takes to arrive, the more hype is applied externally by those who’ve been waiting. By that measure the Verizon iPhone 4 carries some of the loftiest expectations of any pending Apple product in recent memory. Sure, the original iPhone took six months from introduction to ship date, but even in that case everyone knew in detail what the iPhone was set to be.

The Verizon iPhone, in contrast, has been in gestation for nearly four years, and a secret gestation product at that. Sure, it’ll be an iPhone very similar to whatever iPhone model is current at the time, just with Verizon compatibility tacked on. But the mere fact that nothing has been said, nothing set in stone, no finite limitations placed on the Verizon iPhone 4 by any official party, means that those expecting it are going to naturally ratchet up those expectations as time goes on. The reality, however, is that there is no free pony under the seat.

With the original iPhone having been introduced at Macworld Expo back in 2007, it’s fitting that a Macworld Expo keynote in-joke helps to explain the hype surrounding the Verizon iPhone 4. In the years before there was wifi in the keynote hall, before the iPad and its 3G existed, back before USB cellular modems were popular, getting out onto the internet during a Steve Jobs presentation was a real challenge. Attendees would use their Mac laptops to frantically search for a mythical wifi network to magically fall out of the sky, and some pranksters would have fun creating local wireless networks called “Free internet” or some such, just to watch others fall for it as they filled the time until Jobs took the stage. And then one person brought the house down by creating a wireless network which caused some attendees to instinctively bend down and look underneath their seats in anticipation. Such was the hype level surrounding the desire for actual wifi in that room, in that moment, that those who desired it has such limitless expectations that they actually thought there was going to be something under their seat because a faux-wifi network told them to look. And years later, those who have been waiting all this time for a Verizon iPhone, then a Verizon iPhone 3G, then a Verizon iPhone 3GS, and then finally this year a Verizon iPhone 4, none of which came to pass, well, at this point their expectations are so high that if a story surfaced claiming that the Verizon iPhone 4 will be free, come with 1000 free minutes a month, and will be hand delivered by Verizon’s CEO who will arrive by riding a pony he found under his seat, some folks would be inclined to believe it.

The reality, of course, is that the Verizon iPhone 4 will cost as much as the existing iPhone 4. The voice and data plans will cost about the same, perhaps a little better, perhaps a bit worse. And while those awaiting a Verizon iPhone have already decided that they believe Verizon’s network to be superior, the Verizon iPhone will still be susceptible to the things that are in fact wrong with Verizon’s network; Verizon dead spots won’t magically stop being dead spots just because you’re making that call with a Verizon iPhone.

Something to keep in mind as the long running, long hyped wait for the Verizon iPhone enters its proverbial final hours.

[Thanks: http://www.beatweek.com]

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