Mark Bridge writes:
It's not often that a news story about the Apple iPhone prompts me to remember a bible verse... but this week was an exception.
The story was in The Washington Post and it was headlined 'Apple's iPhone does well without being the best'. “Very true,” I thought, as I remembered something similar I'd written last summer.
The article reflects on how Apple has triumphed at status and simplicity while other devices may offer better technology.
I hear you asking “Which bible verse?” Wait a moment. That wasn't the story.
Later in the week came news from DeviceFidelity. They've created a protective case that adds the capability for NFC payments to the Apple iPhone. It's a case that has a slot for DeviceFidelity’s In2Pay microSD card, which can use the Visa payWave contactless payment technology.
This, incidentally, is a news story that was issued as a press release a couple of weeks ago and was then withdrawn the same day. Perhaps that's the reason there was a bit of a buzz around this. Because when I heard about it, I was underwhelmed. Protective case? It seemed barely smarter than a roll of gaffa tape.
And that's when I thought of the line from the bible. Revelation 3:15-16. The Son of Man is sending a message to the Church in Laodicea... and He's not happy.
“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”
NFC-enabled mobile payments. Smart idea. Putting NFC on a microSD card. Smart idea. Putting that microSD card in a device that wraps around an iPhone because the iPhone isn't flexible enough to accommodate a microSD card slot. That – to use an appropriately inelegant word – is a kludge. An embarrassment, not a reason to celebrate. Yeah, it's better than nothing. But it's lukewarm. It's tepid. And that's not good for anyone.