iPhone and the Season of Discontent by Virginia Rubey
3/11/2010
When the iPhone 3GS was released
last summer, having real convergence at your fingertips was intoxicating
to smitten consumers. But after a few blissful months, winter came,
and the iPhone forced an ultimatum on its admirers: your gloves or
me.
The implicit demand left some consumers
cool after the summer romance.
Still, it’s hard to deny the appeal
of the new touch screen. Older “touch” screens used resistive technology.
They were, in essence, “press” screens that only registered a single
point of contact when users pushed two separate conductive, and resistive,
metallic layers together. The technology required your fingers - or
a stylus - to serve as a makeshift mouse, with tedious scrolling and
maneuvering to complete a single task.
The capacitive touch screen technology
offered with the 3GS operates via a single screen that stores electrical
charge and responds to electric currents. When your finger touches the
screen, it absorbs some of the electric charge, immediately indicating
the point of contact regardless of temperature. The capacitive touch
screen allows users to quickly scroll through Twitter and other feeds,
zoom in and out of images with a simple gesture, and, because there
is a single layer, it presents a brighter, clearer image than its resistive
ancestors.
In fact, despite complaints of frozen
fingers, the cold weather hasn’t deterred consumers from pursuing
a relationship with the iPhone.
In the fourth fiscal quarter of 2009
(ending 09/26/09), Apple reported 7.4 million iPhone sales. In the first quarter of 2010 (ending 12/26/09), the company reported 8.7 million.
Consumers and technology professionals
are buzzing about it. According to Oscar Wilde, “The only thing worse
than being talked about, is not being talked about.” The iPhone seems
to have retained its status as this season’s trendsetter, with entrepreneurs
racing to fit in where Apple has left a gap.
Jerry Leto invented Touchtec nanotechnology,
which “bridges an awkward gap between humans and machines.” The
capacitive properties found in the leather of iTouch gloves allows consumers
to use their iPhones and wear gloves, simultaneously. The gloves start
at $99.95.