Everyone expects digital devices to work perfectly, after all accuracy and fine fidelity are the mainstay of a digital technologies. But then many of us forget that it is after all humans who operate and control the development of digital technologies.
The brouhaha about iPhone 4 antenna issue is a case in point. Why was everyone behaving as if Apple committed a genocide? Steve Jobs and his team at Apple are no divine creatures; they are allowed to falter (but not allowed to be stupid enough to say “Don’t hold the phone that way”). Why did you think that Apple could not falter with iPhones designs? They invented desktop computers but struggled to get even 20% share of desktop computer market. They lost the battle to the PCs. Apple has had tremendous success in the last decade but hey look at their past and give them the leeway to err as you have given the leeway to Nokia and Motorolas. I never saw Motorolas holding a press conference to explain the crappy battery life in their mobile phone in early 2000’s. Look at this latest problems with Motorola’s Droid X Phones. But did you know about this until you read it here?
Look at HP. Pathetic batteries in their overheating laptops! But no one got on their case like everyone did in Apple’s case. Try topping this blunder: Oops! Dell Says Some of Its Servers Contain a Virus. Who can guarantee that these servers are not being used by your favorite bank? But these goof ups will keep happening. I think we need to understand better what Steve Jobs said in his press conference: Phones are not perfect. We are not perfect. I would paraphrase it as “Technologies are not perfect. No enterprise is perfect.”
In digital world, we expect accuracy to be as absolute as “0” and “1”. But we need to provision a “0.5” level to understand that things can go wrong and hell need not break lose when a technology enterprise, which we unwarrantedly uphold as “Almighty Lord of Technology”, screws up a product.
