the five stages of grief (iPhone edition)

In 1969, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross gave the world the now well-known five stages of grief. You’ve heard them before: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. Mac followers experience these stages of grief when it’s time for a major Apple announcement. We tend to have their own personal wishlist of announcements that they want from Apple. I admit it, I’ve got my own: this was my pre-MWSF 2007 list.

The top item on my MWSF 2007 wishlist was the long-rumoured iPhone. Then, Steve Jobs took the stage and gave me exactly what I said I wanted. He spent an hour and a half extolling the virtues of the iPhone. But as he went on, I became less and less convinced that it was actually what I wanted. And then, oh yes, I went through the five stages of grief.

Denial: I had several different types of denial. I don’t actually need a new phone. Okay, I really do need a new phone, but I don’t actually need or even want a smart phone. Okay, I really do desperately want a smart phone, so the iPhone absolutely has to be absolutely perfect.

Anger: Why didn’t Steve Jobs call me up and ask me what I want in an iPhone, and then deliver the right thing?!

Bargaining: Steve, if you give me whatever I want in an iPhone, I’ll sneak in whatever feature you want in Office. I can even wait until v2 of the iPhone, Steve, just make it work.

Depression: The iPhone isn’t going to be what I want on v1, the whole world sucks. Woe is me. Le sigh. I don’t actually deserve a smart phone anyway. I should find some old brick cell phone, circa 1995, because that’s all that I deserve.

Acceptance: Conveniently, my acceptance comes as we get closer to the actual launch of the the iPhone. I really do need a new phone (my current one drops calls after ~10 minutes), and I really do want a smart phone. While I do have some significant questions about the iPhone user experience, it doesn’t change the fact that I need a new phone. The iPhone is what it is, and it may or may not meet my needs. I’ll have to go into a store and try it out. If it’s not what I want, then there are alternatives.

Comments

• Anonymous
  April 06, 2007
  I wish to see the day when the phone rings, I pick it up, and hear the other party as they would have been standing next to me, this clear! I don’t really care much about iPhone and its ability to display pictures and send emails, my computer and my PDA does that too, what I really want is a phone that I can actually use it to talk, for conversations you now, I want a crystal clear sound, and the ability to talk as much as I want!, not to worry about stupid minutes! If Microsoft ever improves its phone software, it would be nice to redesign the microphone and noise reduction system, the way the sound is delivered, how to preserve the quality, etc; not email and images, I don’t care about them, the same to apple’s iPhone.

• Anonymous
  April 15, 2007
  checking to see how people get to this blog