The Ephone and the Gig Economy, Right?

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i feel like the ephone plays an important role in extending some of those ideas about work into broader economy, right? Because at this period, at the end of the first decade of the two thousands, you have the emergence of the iphone and the apstore. And there are these few developments within this same period of time with the emergence of cloud that creates this, on one hand, ap economy where you have this idea that everyone needs to kind of be entrapernerial and create their own ap. I just don't think that it's quite as, sort of, as valorized or as mythologized as it once was.

Paris Marx is joined by Brian Merchant to discuss the impact of the iPhone after 15 years, including its effects on how we work, how we use technology, and what it’s meant for Apple.

Brian Merchant is a tech journalist, author of The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone, and co-editor of Terraform: Watch/Worlds/Burn. Follow Brian on Twitter at @bcmerchant.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.

Also mentioned in this episode:

In 2011, Cory Moll tried to unionize Apple stores. In June 2022, a store in Maryland became the first to vote to form a union.
Apple’s claims about privacy are, at least to some degree, a clever marketing campaign.
Paris previously wrote about some of Apple’s environmental messaging.
The previous episode with Brian on the iPhone is episode 78 (Sep 16, 2021), and I also spoke to Jenny Chan about the conditions at Foxconn factories where iPhones are manufactured on episode 27 (Sep 17, 2020).

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