Comment on Former Apple designer Sir Jony Ive has said he feels “responsible” for the “not so positive consequences” of the iPhone.

• rottingleaf@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Those apps have gotten hundreds of millions of people out of poverty in India and China who are doing e-commerce and opening small businesses from their phones. That’s food on the table for the working class. They can earn money while looking after their children because they’re not chained to a desktop computer for internet access.

  I’m not sure if you’ve seen it or it’s a picture similar to what OLPC founder would describe to investors.

  People in remote areas can know instantly about natural disasters and the news, educating them and making them active citizens in a democracy.

  Now we learn that Apple invented radio.

  People across the world can chat with each other for nearly free using messaging and social media apps, and won’t have to send letters or pay extra fees for long-distance calls. The iPhone got more people onto what formerly only Blackberry-owning business executive had.

  Apple also did not invent the Internet, or instant messaging, or social media, or ability to use them on a portable device. And I wonder how old you are, ignoring all PDAs other than Apple and Blackberry in that time.

  It’s such a first world thing to belittle the impact of smartphone (an industry which the iPhone shaped tremendously), when it has so much tangible impact, especially to working people.

  This really reads like, I repeat, what OLPC founder would tell to investors. A first world thing.

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  • Dil@is.hardlywork.ing ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Mans giving them a lot of credit lmao

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• Alphane_Moon@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  I am not belittling the impact of the smartphone, just being critical of the positioning around iPhone bringing “liberation” and “empowerment”. It has the capability to do that, but it also has the capability to enable less positive things.

  There are also some inconsistencies in your story.

  The iPhone launched without an app store and the app store concept existed even before iOS/Android.

  From my experience living in developing countries, work type use cases do not use iPhones. If anything in developing countries an iPhone is exclusively a status symbol.

  Claiming the iPhone alone was what got hundred millions of people out of poverty is a ridiculous statement. There are so many other factors at play here.

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  • rottingleaf@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    There are also some inconsistencies in your story.

    Because they were marching under the table at that age, not paying attention to tech.

    From my experience living in developing countries, work type use cases do not use iPhones. If anything in developing countries an iPhone is exclusively a status symbol.

    Yes, and of a particular kind of people, relatives of corrupt bureaucrats and their friends usually. People with money and wish to show off still usually have a good Android device.

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