The technology I have chosen to talk about is the iPhone 4. While the commercial (shown here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHngLJ0RlNg&feature=channel) admits that this is only the fourth installment in a line of products, it also claims that the “iPhone 4 is so much more than just another new product. This will have a lasting impact on the way that we connect with each other” and that “this is going to change everything, all over again […] it’s going to change the way that we communicate forever.” Not only does the iPhone 4 work as a phone, but it combines every media type a person might need. It shows movies, takes pictures, does email, records and edits film, plays games, facilitates texting, functions as a book reader, and plays music.
While texting and camera features are common, the thing that sets the iPhone 4 apart is its ability to meet or exceed our natural ability to communicate. The resolution is so high, claims the ad, that while using the book reader function, “it looks to your eye like you’re holding a printed page in your hand.” Video conferencing allows you to look into your children’s eyes and see how they are really doing, video editing helps create memories the way they were meant to be, and the phone will automatically and intelligently create folders for your information. To top it off, all of this life shaping software is housed in a cutting edge case of newly developed and custom engineered materials.
What makes this reality-replacing and supplementing device accessible is that “the iPhone, for the user, it is simplicity, it is easy to use; behind it, it is intense technology.” Basically, the software is advanced so that the wetware does not have to be. But the phone is still centered around the user. “The quality of the materials, the manufacturing precision, the advanced technology, ultimately all of this becomes relevant when you just hold it in your hand.” The iPhone 4 is, after all, just an extension of your body and your natural ability to communicate – even if it extends beyond what you could do on your own. You cannot upgrade yourself (yet), but you can upgrade the way you connect with other people.
Levy would certainly see some themes found in the iPhone that fall in line with his work. One of these themes would be his emphasis on interconnectivity in the cyber age. In “The Social Movement of Cyberspace” he states that “for cyberculture, being connected is always preferable to being isolated. Connectivity is good in itself” (p. 107). The iPhone ad assumes this; at no point does the advertisement try to convince the viewer why we should want to connect with each other, just that the iPhone will allow us to be better connected than ever before. Earlier in the same work, Levy talks about how technology is becoming more and more integrated, and how software “will sooner or later adhere to a small number of international standards” (p. 93). The iPhone takes the same principle a step further: other people with iPhones can use specific features, and this universally useful device could eventually become the medium through which you experience all media and communication. Why buy a book reader or a music player when this one product encompasses everything you could possibly need? The iPhone 4 is your portal to the cyberworld.
We need to communicate within the cyber realm, claims the ad, and the more advanced your device is to aid in this communication the better. The iPhone 4 is just a tool, but the spirit of the video is quick to remind us that our lives and relationships as humans are dependent on tools – and this phone is as essential as a pair of shoes. The manufactures at Apple act as though we already use smart phones and are welcoming us into the future where the way we communicate will be changed forever.
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