[Macworld]

Post your comments for A new etiquette for the iPhone generation here

[trintoc2]

where is the "meat" of this article? It doesn't even really mention etiquette! "Not to look down and run into people?" Duh! (Yes the train issue was very sad, but I don't consider that etiquette, that's just being stupid)
I'm curious, how many iPhone users still have the "sent with my iPhone" footer on their emails? I'm debated on removing this. I want people to know that I am sending an email from my phone (in case of errors or because the email is short and brief) but I don't want to appear I am flaunting my device.
Any thoughts?

[CodeSmith]

So the publication gets Rob Enderle, one of the worlds biggest Microsoft fans to comment on the iPhone. Why not just ask Steve Ballmer while you're at it. With the iPhone at $199 - $299, how is this excess? There are probably dozens of Windows Mobile phones out there that cost this much or more. I guess its just that nobody wants to use them...

[HyperMactive]

Good grief, are they seriously going to quote Rob "I Make My Living Bashing Apple" Enderle?
Tell me, Rob, what makes whipping our your $199 Blackberry any less arrogant or flashy than whipping out your $199 iPhone?
Nothing. Nothing at all.
And Enderle probably didn't have a problem with the extensive use of portable devices before. Until the iPhone came along. Because it's from Apple. And Rob Enderle is paid by the pint of Apple haterade he manages to distill.

[cgrove]

I've changed my signature to:

Sent from a mobile device, please pardon the brevity.

Seems to get the point across without flaunting the iPhone.

[sheilanolan]

A clear case of iPhone envy!

[dreyfus]

Well, I remember when the first "mobile" phones appeared (weighing some 8 lbs and as big as a small attache case) only the most disgusting and loud-talking people (stock exchange yuppies and pimps) were carrying them - even that did not stop mobile phones becoming main stream.
When the first smaller units became available, people talking on them in the subway were getting all kinds of unfriendly comments and (one-finger, patent-free) gestures from the crowd. Did that stop anything...?
When I was a teen the Sony Walkman came out and it had "open" headphones. More than once other people instructed me to shut the damn thing down in busses and subways... And for sure, it did not become a success?
Nope, we adjust to anything and everything and become more and more indifferent all the time. Not even a person with Tourette and a double i-beam through the nose will raise any eybrows on my bus today. And people will be annoyed by an iPhone? Yeah. Sure...

[JimmyJazzuk77]

Wow, wont be adding Infoworld to my rss feeds any time soon. Worst 'news item' I've read in a long time.

[BenUNC]

I changed my footer the moment I got my iPhone. You now can't tell a difference between an email sent with my phone or my home computer.

[leicaman]

"The Enderle Group" is the man, his wife and maybe his dog. He's a flim flam bloviator who has no place in tech reporting.
Why would anyone who knows ANYTHING about Macs quote that Microsoft sycophant? Please, for the love of God, stop quoting Enderle!

[chrishannon]

How is "Sent from my iPhone" any more pretentious than the "Sent from my Blackberry" that I have been seeing for several years?
Give me a break.
~c

[HyperMactive]

""The Enderle Group" is the man, his wife and maybe his dog. He's a flim flam bloviator who has no place in tech reporting."

What you say is true - but my question is, how can I get a sweet gig doing what he does? I need to get a piece of the pie from the Apple-hating tech press while there is still Apple-hating tech press left (they seem to be dwindling these days).

I have plenty to say about Microsoft (and their crap I've been forced to use for the past 15 years) - now I just have to wait for the rise of the Microsoft-hating tech press. I'll let you all know where you can send my check. :)

[HyperMactive]

"I'm curious, how many iPhone users still have the "sent with my iPhone" footer on their emails?"

I removed this immediately when I first got my iPhone as I thought it silly and annoying. Then I started to realize there was some real value in letting people know that you aren't actually at your desk or that you're out and about when you respond to their messages. So I added the footer back in. It also helps me when others have this footer in their emails as well (whether Blackberry or iPhone - and I agree, why is the iPhone footer deemed pretentious while the Blackberry footer is not?).

[manatee87]

Huh? I'm just fascinated with technology. Ask anyone who knows me, and they will assure you that I am the "omega dog". I bought the iPhone out of curiosity with its capabilities. Despite its early shortcomings, the interface proved to be a leap beyond anything else for the things I do with it.

The iPhone "changes how people interact with each other and their surroundings"? How so? How is it different from any other smartphone on the market? If that statement were true (and I do not think it is), then it could only be because the iPhone's design makes it more effective at what it is intended to do than all the other devices that are intended to do the same thing.

What does the author mean by "iPhone’s visual carnival"? The look of the device? The variety of applications it supports? Is that a bad thing? Is simple, elegant design a negative? Is versatility a negative?

Ok, there's truth in "The visual nature of the iPhone can be a big distraction." Yes, it isolates people. But this has nothing to do with the iPhone in particular. Many other companies have been in competition to be the "category killer" in this respect. The iPhone just happens to have come through with the most usable interface and applications.

The author seems to want to rail against the breakdown of social structure, but why his bitterness is aimed specifically at people who choose the iPhone are hard to understand.