I've never understood why people like to pre-order something before even one review on it is released, or before they get a chance to see it for themselves.
Well I've used iPhones for several generations now. I pre-ordered before any reviews because I have a pretty good idea of what the general experience will be like and I'm looking to upgrade my phone to one with a larger screen and faster hardware. The iPhone 5 ticked those boxes for me while still allowing me to use my same apps and devices in my home. I'm not really interested in switching to an entirely different ecosystem at this time as I have a lot invested in this one.
It is unfortunate that the maps application is a step backward in some regards but I've been bracing myself for this since I first heard they were working on their own map app.
I don't live in a city where I rely on transit directions so that didn't effect me a lot but I can see how it would be frustrating to people who do. However, because I mostly drive everywhere the turn-by-turn directions is a huge addition for me. So, I'm not entirely disappointed in the new map app.
Well, there's that, and there's also the fact that it's historically been a good bet with the iPhone to order each new model sight-unseen. That's been the case going back to the very first one.
Not every new iPhone or iOS version was a win in every respect over its predecessor, but this is the first time Apple has royally hosed its customers.
Antennagate was mostly a made-up thing, though. It served certain peoples' interests to turn it into a bigger deal than it was.
Maps is a huge part of the reason why I bought an iPhone in the first place. I would literally rather give up the ability to use it as a telephone than give up the ability to use it for navigation.
Are there any books or dissertations written on this phenomenon?
Certainly psychiatrists have a name for this by now? (I have never seen this level of loyalty anywhere else: Rock Stars, World Leaders or Religious heads..)
Its almost like some drug is leaking into their bodies from their iDevices which rest of us are not privy to.
Although not an Apple fan, I can relate to their purchasing behaviour through an analogy of my own:
I am a massive Pixar fan. I think almost everything they touch turns to gold and I haven't seen a Pixar movie that I dont' like (to be fair, the last new release I saw was Toy Story 3). When I saw the ad for WALL-E, I thought it sounded like a stupid idea for a movie, but I still forked out the $10 to go see it at the cinema. This decision was purely on their past record, nothing to do with my perception of WALL-E. Sure enough, I loved it.
Perhaps this is a similar way Apple fans make decisions.
Which doesn't have to be a terrible idea. Explicitly encouraging transit app competition is great.
Now if only you could change the default handler for addresses to route to other mapping/direction programs. Once we get that, this teapot tempest will die out.
Carriers already push iPhone alternatives for all sorts of reasons. It doesn't matter how good the third-party transit apps are. Not having transit routing built in is an "instant demo" for any carrier sales rep trying to push an Android or Windows Phone. And, last I heard, Apple sells far more iPhones through carriers that they sell directly...
The latest doesn't always mean the greatest.