

A White iPhone 4 Is Confronted Regarding Its Inability to Be Shipped - ghiculescu
http://daringfireball.net/2010/10/anthropomorphized_white_iphone_4

======
nl
I think Apple are avoiding shipping a white iPhone so they don't fragment the
iPhone market like Android is ;)

~~~
stretchwithme
Thank god. Fragmented phones are so hard to dial on, what with the keys all
going off into different directions.

------
Nekojoe
From what I've heard it's because the buttons and the case are made by
different companies and they can't get the colours to match.
<http://www.reghardware.com/2010/10/15/white_iphone_spied/>

~~~
runjake
That's just hearsay. It's pretty hard to believe in the days of Pantone that
two high-scale vendors cannot match colors.

There were also rumors that it had something to do with light and the camera
(iow, white doesnt absorb light as well). Who knows?

Although I use their gear, I'm not known to say a lot of nice things about
Apple, but I think this "fiasco" isn't. I applaud them for their apparent eye
for QA in the matter.

These sorts of QA blunders are virtually routine for competitors like HTC,
Motorola, and Samsung.

It sounds like Jobs announced the white iPhone 4 a bit too prematurely. Lesson
learned, let's ditch the White i4 and move onto the next thing.

------
jbrennan
This is such a legendary article. I love John's creativity.

~~~
Anechoic
Whatever you think of Gruber, his "anthropomorphized" articles are good for a
laugh.

The iTunes 5 Announcement From the Perspective of an Anthropomorphized Brushed
Metal User Interface Theme:
<http://daringfireball.net/2005/09/anthropomorphized>

iLife ’06 From the Perspective of an Anthropomorphized Brushed Metal
Interface: <http://daringfireball.net/2006/01/brushed_metal>

An Anthropomorphized Brushed Metal Interface Theme Shows Up for the WWDC
Preview Build of Mac OS X Leopard:
<http://daringfireball.net/2007/06/brushed_metal_leopard>

~~~
mortenjorck
Wow, it's been years. These have always been, in my opinion, Gruber's greatest
strength, even beyond readably plainspoken Apple analysis and a certain
kindredness to Steve Jobs' perfectionist spirit. It's obvious how much he
enjoys writing these; I have to wonder why he doesn't do them more often.

~~~
raganwald
I'm a big fan of his "Translation from PR-Speak to English" articles. I wish
he'd translate everything Ballmer says so I could understand what Microsoft is
actually doing.

[http://duckduckgo.com/?q=site:daringfireball.net+translation...](http://duckduckgo.com/?q=site:daringfireball.net+translation+%22to+English%22)

~~~
seldo
The problem is that Ballmer, like Yang, doesn't actually know what he's trying
to say.

------
Tycho
Could they be deliberately holding back the white iPhone because there's
nothing else due for 2011? Seems they could afford to skip an iteration and
keep the same model for a while longer - it's now got most of the features
that people thought were 'lacking' in earlier iPhones. I remember Nintendo or
Sony shifting a ridiculous number of units just by releasing a white DS or
PSP, a big release that was purely cosmetic.

~~~
tvon
Announcing a new color would be on thing, but deliberately holding back a
product that was supposed to be available months ago sounds like a horrible
idea to me and I don't think anyone would fall for it.

~~~
gloob
If Steve Jobs was selling it, I do think people would fall for it.

------
mkramlich
I'm neutral on getting a white iPhone but I would love to see an iPhone model
that:

* had a Back button in Mobile Safari that consistently redisplayed a cached version of the previous web page, by default. use a portion of the flash space if needed for this cache

* had a way to temporarily disable device auto-rotate -- the bane of users who are moving or fidgeting or laying down

* Photo collection synching -- why is the only way I can get them off by selecting up to 4 at a time and emailing them to myself? They're just files. Copy them to your host desktop just like all those other files they've been synching for years.

...the color white? purty, but, not a substantive improvement like the above
would be.

~~~
blasdel
I used to jailbreak my iPhone solely to get a rotation lock — now in iOS 4 you
can double-tap the home button to bring up the task list, swipe from left to
right, and lock the current orientation with the button on the left.

~~~
mkramlich
thanks for tip. i've just tried it and it seems to only lock it into Portrait
mode, regardless of which mode you really want. So you can't lock into
Landscape orientation, for example. Frustrating. Baby step progress, at least.

------
killdashnine
I'm not sure about other markets but in Canada I've been trying to get an
iphone 4 since launch. I've been put on a waiting list that they say is 6+
months long. I hope Apple responds to its existing demand before trying to
introduce new variations.

~~~
pmjordan
Wow, on my last visit to the UK I just walked into an Apple store and bought
an unlocked one there and then for a friend. They had stacks of them in stock.
(they _were_ selling one every 2 minutes or so though) The website says 1
week:

[http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iph...](http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone?mco=OTY2ODA2OQ)

Actually, the Canadian website says 2 weeks:

[http://store.apple.com/ca/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iph...](http://store.apple.com/ca/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone?mco=OTY2ODA2OQ)

So whoever you're trying to buy one from - they're messing you around.

~~~
chris24
That's the waiting time for an unlocked phone though. You can't order
subsidized phones direct from Apple in Canada. You have to visit an Apple
Retail Store or a store that carries phones from your carrier of choice.

If you're in a contract with a carrier, I'd suggest phoning them up and asking
to speak with their retentions department. Talk to them about how you're
thinking about leaving if you can't get an iPhone 4 soon. Most of the big
carriers -- Rogers, Telus, Bell, and even Fido -- have taken orders through
their retentions department. It really seems to depend on the day though,
whether or not they can sell any. But it's worth a shot!

------
taylorlb
Jacob confronted by the Man in Black

~~~
taylorlb
man, I really had no idea how unpopular that comment was going to be! Last
time I mention that show ever again.

~~~
sorbus
The problem is that it's completely off-topic, and, to people unfamiliar with
the show, makes absolutely no sense.

~~~
taylorlb
I shall re-work my previous comment then... that's the last time I mention
something off topic and vague here again. I shall save my nonsense for other
forums.

