retrogusto

9secondkox2 said:

eightzero said:

I can't remember if Netflix offered an app for the iPhone when it came out.

iPhone didn’t have an App Store when it came out. 

Also, Netflix streaming launched in January 2007, a week after Jobs first announced the iPhone, but the phone came out months later. Initially, it was only available in browsers. Netflix collaborated with another company to design a set-top box for streaming, but pulled out of the project, and the resulting product, Roku, was released in May 2008. When I started streaming Netflix, I did it with a PS3, which involved getting Netflix to send me a special disc that I had to insert in the PS3 whenever I wanted to stream something. Eventually they transitioned to a downloadable app that made the disc unnecessary. 

It’s worth noting that once people have these, they’ll be giving demos to their friends and families, and in-store demos will be less necessary. 

The last two times I bought iPhones at the Apple Store, I knew exactly what I wanted and was in a hurry but still couldn’t get out of there in less than an hour, due to the wait for a salesperson, then all of the talking they wanted to do, then bringing the phone out from the back and ringing up the purchase. Pretty frustrating, since I wasn’t really expecting it. So 25 minutes in this case sounds downright speedy. 

I too think that lots of people will want to try it, but not many will feel compelled to spend that kind of money on the first generation device. It seems like incredible technology, but the battery life and comfort will need to be worked out in future iterations. Right now, there’s a somewhat awkward-seeming 2-hour external battery, but the bigger limitation might be the comfort; I think Marques Brownlee said that it was very impressive, but after 15 minutes he was ready to take it off, due to the weight. But hopefully we’ll all be so blown away that we won’t be able to resist the temptation.