iPhone misses the social networking revolution

Steve Jobs doesn't understand how today's end-users communicate.

from the July 11, 2007 edition

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This is not to downplay the technical achievement here: As a palm-sized almost-a-laptop cellphone, the iPhone is a marvel. But it's not a vision of the mobile future.

Here's my theory: Apple can only create really interesting products if Jobs understands the end-user. And Jobs does not understand the 21st-century user. In this century, people don't send memos to each other.

Today, people chat; they blog; they share multimedia such as pictures, video, and audio; they debate ("flame") each other on forums; they link with each other in intricate webs; they switch effortlessly between different electronic personae and avatars; they listen to Internet radio; they battle over reputation; they podcast; they do mash-ups; they vote on this, that, and the other; they argue on wiki discussion groups.

With the exception of a minimalist widget for text messaging, the iPhone does not have direct support for any of that. No support for sharing photos, no recording of podcasts, no text communities, no location awareness.

Without going through a computer with a cable, the iPhone doesn't really communicate very much with anything.

In fact, when you want to communicate with somebody, the method (application) comes before the person. You first have to choose how to communicate (SMS, phone call, e-mail, Web service). Only then can you choose whom you want to talk to. That is a classical "code-centric" view of the world. Apple completely misses the opportunity to present text messaging, visual voice mail, and multimedia e-mails in a coherent view.

This is not a simple lack of features. This is not a "one-dot-oh" effect inherent in a brand-new product category. This is a fundamental lack of understanding of social networking.

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