When I first saw The Mojave Experiment something struck me as odd. I couldn’t put my finger on it initially, but after pondering it for a while I realized that the whole concept is completely flawed. Rather than provide a narrative here of why this is such a misleading and botched “experiment”, I’ll simply link to a blog post that someone else wrote, which sums it up:
http://wilshipley.com/blog/2008/07/mojave-experiment-bad-science-bad.html
I preface this by saying that I did what most of my friends did. I followed the direct link to Apple’s web site to download what was supposedly the final version of the iPhone 2.0 firmware and I did the manual install. I did NOT do it the sanctioned way of going through iTunes. I therefore may have either a corrupted or out-dated version.
What’s up with the downloaded apps not starting up? I downloaded about 6 free apps and installed them, and for the first couple of days they worked. But for the last two days, they don’t launch. None of them. They try to, but after no more than five seconds, it gracefully returns to my home screen with no error message. Strangely, all of the standard iPhone applications work as they should.
So I write this with two things in mind.
1. If I’m on 5A347, am I on the wrong version?
2. If 5A237 is the final version of iPhone 2.0, Apple – what’s up with these apps not starting anymore?
I saw a story on Digg that was a spoof on an iPhone commercial. The guy talked about spending $600 for the first model, then having the price get lowered by $200 in almost no time (no mention of the $100 store credit that Apple gave all those customers, by the way). Then shelling out another $199 for the new iPhone 3G with a more expensive data plan. I didn’t personally get a new phone, but I know of a couple of people that did.
A comment on that Digg post by a guy named Jim read as follows:
“I’ll re-state what many other clear-minded people here have stated before: You don’t HAVE to buy the phone. Don’t like the prices? Go find another phone/carrier.
I can’t afford a Mercedes, but you don’t see me bitching to them about it in some shitty blog. Get over it.”
I couldn’t agree with this person more. Nobody is forcing anyone to stand in lines for hours. Nobody is forcing anyone to spend another $199 plus service charges. People are CHOOSING to do so. By the hundreds of thousands.