Daily Show skewers AT&T over Verizon iPhone news
Jon Stewart made Verizon's iPhone announcement a top story on his Comedy Central Daily Show last night, first describing the news as the reason for the "spring in my step," before launching a castigating portrayal of AT&T's service in New York City.
"For the past three or four years, those of us in the iPhone community have sacrificed one thing for the ability to carry around every photograph we?ve ever taken? or song we?ve ever listened to, or home video, or compass," Stewart said.
"We have sacrificed the ability to make phone calls," he said, dramatically adding, as the audience laughted, "For years! Struggling with the world's most popular, almost phone."
"Well, our long national nightmare may soon be over," Steward said, jumping to a clip of Verizon's president Lowell McAdam announcing the new availability of Apple's iPhone on its network.
"Freedom!" Stewart bellowed, before explaining the steps he's had to take in order to communicate with the iPhone, which included carrying a second phone (pulling out a pink plastic toy which he said his four year old daughter wanted back, and which could only call unicorns and faeries) and hiring foot messengers to physically carry the phone to the recipient after he typed it in. "Each text costs me $400," Steward quipped.
Correspondent John Oliver then lampooned the iPhone's service in an onsite report via a video call, where he loses service mid-call, which he later blamed on having "looked at a tunnel."
Oliver compiled a series of clips with existing users, who complained that AT&T's service required them to walk to specific places in their home to make a call, that "calls drop all the time," and that "the service is horrible," with about half of the comments including bleeped out profanity (or blurred middle finger gestures) directed toward AT&T.
"It's like being a technology hostage," one woman said, while the next man added, "it's like being a slave." Oliver described the Verizon announcement as "a moment of liberation," staging skits involving users pulling down AT&T logos and stomping on them.
"1/11/11," Oliver concluded, "a day that will always be known as VZ day," over the image of a returning sailor kissing his girl in Times Square, as he glanced at his mobile phone.
The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
"For the past three or four years, those of us in the iPhone community have sacrificed one thing for the ability to carry around every photograph we?ve ever taken? or song we?ve ever listened to, or home video, or compass," Stewart said.
"We have sacrificed the ability to make phone calls," he said, dramatically adding, as the audience laughted, "For years! Struggling with the world's most popular, almost phone."
"Well, our long national nightmare may soon be over," Steward said, jumping to a clip of Verizon's president Lowell McAdam announcing the new availability of Apple's iPhone on its network.
"Freedom!" Stewart bellowed, before explaining the steps he's had to take in order to communicate with the iPhone, which included carrying a second phone (pulling out a pink plastic toy which he said his four year old daughter wanted back, and which could only call unicorns and faeries) and hiring foot messengers to physically carry the phone to the recipient after he typed it in. "Each text costs me $400," Steward quipped.
Correspondent John Oliver then lampooned the iPhone's service in an onsite report via a video call, where he loses service mid-call, which he later blamed on having "looked at a tunnel."
Oliver compiled a series of clips with existing users, who complained that AT&T's service required them to walk to specific places in their home to make a call, that "calls drop all the time," and that "the service is horrible," with about half of the comments including bleeped out profanity (or blurred middle finger gestures) directed toward AT&T.
"It's like being a technology hostage," one woman said, while the next man added, "it's like being a slave." Oliver described the Verizon announcement as "a moment of liberation," staging skits involving users pulling down AT&T logos and stomping on them.
"1/11/11," Oliver concluded, "a day that will always be known as VZ day," over the image of a returning sailor kissing his girl in Times Square, as he glanced at his mobile phone.
The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Comments
It really is no joke. Service really IS that bad.
...just wait till 6 million iPhone users crowd onto Verizon's CDMA 3G network...
I've never watched that show before. Is it a comedy?
It is on Comedy Central. It?s a great show. One of my favourites.
When I see AT&T iPhone speed tests coming back with 4-5mbits I chuckle. On my iPhone 4 (with a network called 'O2') I'm lucky if I get 1mbit. Most of the time it's 0.25mbit. As soon as I leave the city the service drops to edge, then GPRS, then no service. It's a joke.
The only possible relief on offer is the aforementioned 'Three' network, who in my experience will give around 3mbit (still lower than AT&T of course), but with very spotty coverage. Plus their network, as the name implies, is 3G only, so when leaving a city the iPhone goes from 3G to no service instantly.
Oh and all UK mobile networks now have horrible data caps too. How does 250mb to 500mb a month sound?
a year from now he will be asking the all important questions "why can I check email and talk on my VZ Iphone at the same time" damn that grass was not greener
or, god forbid, you try to use google maps for directions while you are talking on the phone... i cannot even count the number of times i have been talking to someone on the phone while searching for/making reservations at the establishment we are meeting at...
It really is no joke. Service really IS that bad.
Where do you live? Everyone says the AT&T network coverage sucks. I live in FL and here AT&T is king, their network coverage dominates FL . I've never once dropped a call on my iPhone or had any issue. I know it's not that great in california or new York.
or, god forbid, you try to use google maps for directions while you are talking on the phone... i cannot even count the number of times i have been talking to someone on the phone while searching for/making reservations at the establishment we are meeting at...
I love how people say they don't use it or it's an obscure feature no one needs.
Think about it this way for a moment.
The iPhone is your computing device when away from your computer, right?
So how many times have you been on a phone call while browsing the Internet on your real computer? Lots of times, I would imagine. So what is the difference? If you could do it on your iPhone, you would. I'm just guessing, but that is the way I use my iPhone and my computer quite often. I like multitasking.
I love how people say they don't use it or it's an obscure feature no one needs.
Think about it this way for a moment.
The iPhone is your computing device when away from your computer, right?
So how many times have you been on a phone call while browsing the Internet on your real computer? Lots of times, I would imagine. So what is the difference? If you could do it on your iPhone, you would. I'm just guessing, but that is the way I use my iPhone and my computer quite often. I like multitasking.
How many people said that about smartphones in general? How many of them are now smartphone users? Like all good technology, what is irrelevant in one epoch can be a necessity in the next.
My experience is opposite of what most people constantly complain about (I maintain you are a complete idiot if you keep a phone that has as poor of service as people complain about - you have 30 days for a reason). Even in NY, I had very good service (I was expecting the worst after reading about this stuff for a month).
I for one, cannot wait to watch as the honeymoon phase slowly wears off...some people will literally never be satisfied with ANYTHING.
I do find it interesting that people continue to complain about the AT&T network. It is the best network I have ever had and I live in a small town.
I honestly would not be surprised if most of them don't even have AT&T.
"For the past three or four years, those of us in the iPhone community have sacrificed one thing for the ability to carry around every photograph we?ve ever taken? or song we?ve ever listened to, or home video, or compass," Stewart said.
"We have sacrificed the ability to make phone calls," he said, dramatically adding, as the audience laughted, "For years! Struggling with the world's most popular, almost phone."
IMO, one of Apple's biggest problems is forming partnerships. The one with ATT has made them a laughingstock. And recently, they were running ads dissing Verizon for the inability to access data during calls. So much for multitasking...
I love how people say they don't use it or it's an obscure feature no one needs.
It is such an obscure feature that Apple based a major ad campaign around it. Go figure