Sicko and Sick Phone

It is almost lunch time too…and Friday. 

Following the launch I just led for BMC, I’ve been watching other launches in the market place.  Curiously, I noticed that both the Iphone and Michael Moore’s new movie SICKO both premier on June 29, 2007.  Just a coincidence I’m sure.  Anyway, I haven’t had early access to either, but have read a bit about both.

What about the Iphone?  It looks absolutely fabulous in the advertisements.  Apple understands the magic of design and advertising, but I was skimming an article on the Iphone and the author was discussing the controversial fact that it lacks a physical keyboard. Evidently it is quite a controversy online. (Did you see John Dvorak’s “Time to Short Apple?”) I know I would be fine with a graphical/touchscreen keyboard, if it does what it is supposed to do as easy and well as a real keyboard.  I generally keep my text messages short anyway.  Steve Jobs has been making a lot of good calls since his return to Apple, so I bet it won’t be a flop. That said this same article talked about Jobs’s insistence that a computer mouse should only have one button.  I am all about KISS and ‘less is more’, but one mouse button is one too few for me.  I even like my scroll wheel. 

The ‘right’ amount of functionality is a classic challenge for technologists and technology marketers.  Simplicity is essential and too much is almost always bad, but too little won’t pay the bills (I’ve managed and marketed both fat and ‘thin’ products.)  The market will start voting on the Iphone in less than 2 weeks. 

If you’re an early adopter you can even use your new Iphone buy tickets to Moore’s new documentary on the health care and insurance industry.  Evidently, this launch is not without controversy either as Moore is being investigated by the U.S. Treasury Department for a visit to Cuba during the filming of his latest movie.  What do I think about this?  No comment.  I’m hungry.