The iphone had all of these very, like, pleasant, new feeling, sort of stimulating, kind of exciting animations that were small. It was a legal innovation more than any technological innovation but the ephone gave it a vector through which to do that. The biggest things that really wound up driving the iphone were probably your facebook and an ober,. Things that you could actually do on the phone beond, you know, waste time or get sucked into your email and box again.
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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