Put Down the IPhone and Appreciate Its Genius

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Full disclosure: I own shares of AAPL.

Put Down the IPhone and Appreciate Its Genius
Apple changed mining, and manufacturing, and the way we wait in lines. And made the music we listen to poorer.
By Tyler Cowen

June 28, 2017, 11:42 AM EDT

Ten years after the introduction of Apple Inc.’s iPhone, and the broader category of smartphones, it’s worth stepping back to see what we have learned. As with most major technological innovations, it’s brought a number of collateral surprises about the rest of our world.

First, we’ve learned that, even in this age of bits and bytes, materials innovation still matters. The iPhone is behind the scenes a triumph of mining science, with a wide variety of raw materials and about 34 billion kilograms (75 billion pounds) of mined rock as an input to date, as discussed by Brian Merchant in his new and excellent book “The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone.” A single iPhone has behind it the production of 34 kilos of gold ore, with 20.5 grams (0.72 ounces) of cyanide used to extract the most valuable parts of the gold.
....

The iPhone also shows that China is a major innovator and has been for some time. Don’t be fooled by the common take that the U.S. did all the creative design and concept work, and the factories of southern China simply perform assembly and lay on the finishing touches. The iPhone is possible only because China brought speed and scale to the production process in an unprecedented way. One of its innovations was building a technological and labor-market ecosystem where so many talented and hardworking engineers can be hired so quickly. If you don’t think that’s a major and novel accomplishment, try doing it in some other country.
....

The day the iPhone came out, June 29, 2007, I boasted to my wife that it would be one of the most important cultural events of our lifetimes, maybe the most important. I compared my purchase of one, which I wanted to justify, to going to see a “Don Giovanni” premiere in 1787. Perhaps I was right in my broader assessment, but I hadn’t realized that so many users would opt for a rather extreme bundle of convenience, sharing abilities and product quality degradations.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

To contact the author of this story:
Tyler Cowen at [e-mail]

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stacey Shick at [e-mail]

[Docreed2003]

1. My only two critiques would be these:

A). All "smartphones" use raw materials in a fashion similar to the iPhone

B). The iPhone isn't the cause for poorer sound quality of music consumed today. That trend started with the innovation of the CD. Now, this will surely spark an audiophile debate, but there's pretty clear data that digital files compress music in a substantial way. The best example of this, outside of classical music, would be Jimi Hendrix's "Are You Experienced?" The album version is clearly different from the digital version in the breadth of sound. In order to create a digital tract that can fit onto a disc, the highs and lows were compressed. Now, modern music is a little different and far less compressed, but anecdotally, I'll give you an example from my own listening experience that highlights the digital/analog dilemma. One of my favorite albums is Bruce Springsteen "Live at Hammersmith Odeon". Until recently I had never heard that album on any format other than digital. I knew, as a Springsteen fan, that Bruce was sick with the flu that night and almost didn't perform, but that doesn't come across on the digital version. On the analog version, you can clearly hear how sick he sounds...especially on the first song "Thunder Road". Now, this is gonna sound crazy, but I've listened to that live version a thousand times...it sounds completely different on vinyl compared to digital!! Maybe I'm being melodramatic, but to me it just does. That being said, it ain't the iPhone's or apple's fault that people have become so prone to digital music. That's the expected transition from analog to CD to digital that's to blame.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. "Now, this will surely spark an audiophile debate,..."

Not with me. I own several turntables.

Thanks for writing.