Take Three: Observations on iPhone Launches

I just received my iPhone 3G S, and I could not be more excited. How strange buying a new cell phone has become in the last two years.

I am a confessed gadget geek. I love new gadgets and seeing the way different models do whatever it is they are supposed to do. That’s true with cell phones, certainly; it is interesting to note the various fauna of the cellular jungle, observing what is unique about them.

But, the iPhone is different from other cell phones: people rush out and buy iPhones on the launch day. People who aren’t gadget geeks. Launch day is a big deal.

Sure, when other notable phones come out, someone is bound to take notice, but for the most part, phones in the past have been a decidedly unexciting sort of device when it comes to launches. In the past, it has not been uncommon for phones to launch months before any carrier started officially selling them. Then, one day, the phone pops up at the AT&T or Verizon store and people start buying it. Ho hum.

The iPhone is much more of a coordinated affair. Down to shipping. As it was for many others, my preordered iPhone 3G S showed up as being on schedule for delivery two days ago. But, that would be too typical – too much like other devices’ launches. Much to my chagrin, Apple managed to halt the delivery and recoordinate it with UPS so that my phone, having arrived in Anchorage on Wednesday – after a short stint in Hong Kong – would sit comfortably above the lower 48 states for well over a day before flying down just in time to arrive in St. Louis for delivery this morning.

Depending on when one ordered the phone and how far it had to go, Apple adjusted its free shipping so that it arrived at just the right time. My mother, who decided to upgrade to a 3G S as well, ordered two days after I did and when her order shipped on Wednesday, Apple sent it via FedEx from Memphis rather than putting it on the longer trek from China that mine took.

For a while, I nervously watched the two packages’ tracking information. It looked like maybe my phone would be late, hers on time. The early iPhone shopper doesn't get the worm? It was close, but my phone made it into my hands a few hours before she received hers.

My iPhone peeks out of its box after the long journey from China.

It is those sort of odd details that have made the iPhone launches notable enough to keep people following them for three summers straight.

CBS Radio News covered the iPhone this morning. I listen to my CBS radio affiliate, KMOX, fairly often and coverage of cell phone launches is not exactly part of their everyday broadcasting material. As far as I can recall, the only other phone to garner such a mention was the Palm Pre.

The Pre makes this story all the more interesting. Using a similar detail oriented mindset, similar secretive policies, the most similar multi-touch experience and yet the most thoughtfully differentiated design of any iPhone challenger, the Pre made a very big splash last month for Palm and Sprint.

Not terribly surprisingly, many of Palm’s engineers are Apple alumni, including the new head of the company, Jon Rubinstein, who headed up the Pre’s design before his promotion to the top.

Whether Palm’s new line of webOS devices will prove to be a one-hit wonder or be able to build up and sustain the sort of mindshare that the iPhone has commanded since it was first previewed in January 2007 – or, really, since it was first rumored years earlier – is hard to say.

But, it does show companies are learning from Apple. No one really knows whether other major players, such as Nokia and RIM, can eventually achieve similarly powerful splashes on product launches; that they will try is certain now that they have realized the non-gadget geek public can actually get hyped up about a new phone launch.

Long time readers will recall my musing on the original iPhone launch two years ago. In case anyone wonders, I never regretted opening the box and forgoing attempts to sell the iPhone on eBay.

A product launch does not a good phone make, any more than a habit to a monk, but it does demonstrate a company’s dedication to details.

Details are what phones have lacked in the past: I can recall even four or five years ago that using almost any cell phone would not be associated with the phrase “pleasant experience.” Moreover, all of the major carriers spent more time plastering the phones’ UIs with their logos than they did making the phones' preloaded features useful.

But the winds of change are blowing. As OFB’s recent review of the Samsung Alias 2 shows, even lower-cost feature phones have started gaining attractive, easy to use interfaces – and, even more notably – out of the box innovation! For that, we can thank the very powerful shadow of Steve Jobs and his fruity company.

My phone arrived on cue this morning just before 10. A bit less exhilarating than showing up at an AT&T store at 6 p.m. with an energized crowd, but perfectly detailed nonetheless.

Timothy R. Butler is Editor-in-Chief of Open for Business. He has been using an iPhone since the original model launched June 29, 2007. He owns a small quantity of Apple (AAPL) stock