Wednesday, December 05, 2007
This month's Silicon Veggie makes me think of Treos vs. iPhones
Is my recommendation about how to make a Bay Area veg*n feel joyful this holiday season...from a culinary perspective.
In particular it's interesting to consider that my recommendation for the ultimate place to take even a vegan for an intimate romantic dinner is not a vegan restaurant (and the Bay Area has a few nice ones.) it is a vegetarian restaurant that actually has very few vegan items on the printed menu.
Why? Because sometimes how we are made to feel by a company, a product, a service, an offering, is more important than the objective quality or even appropriateness of said offering. I feel welcome and accommodated at my restaurant recommendation. The atmosphere and ambiance appeal to me, and they accommodate my menu requirements without question. And that is enough to make me prefer it over some vegan restaurants that would offer me more menu choices, but don't make me feel as good when I'm there.
I thought of that today when my iPhone had a weird glitchy freezy moment, and I had to turn it off and back on.
When my Treo does this I feel my head begin to explode. When my iPhone did this I simply re-started it and moved on.
Now, it's true that when I was using the Treo heavily i'd have to re-boot it several times a day, so the frequency is much much worse, but the real problem is that even when the Treo is behaving properly, it does not thrill me. it does not entice me. It does not do things wonderfully. It's prosaic and clunky.
There is no payoff that makes the occasional price worth it.
Whereas when the iPhone is working properly...which is most of the time...it is the coolest gadget I've ever owned. It thrills me more than the very first Palm I had, or when I got a Sony Vaio with its beautiful purpley color, or when I first switched to Apple products with the iLamp-style iMac and the iPod.
Anyway, this may be a pretty random post to get my juices flowing here at Worker Bees again, but somehow, in my brain, my column about vegan holiday gifts made me think of my iPhone. Go figure.
In particular it's interesting to consider that my recommendation for the ultimate place to take even a vegan for an intimate romantic dinner is not a vegan restaurant (and the Bay Area has a few nice ones.) it is a vegetarian restaurant that actually has very few vegan items on the printed menu.
Why? Because sometimes how we are made to feel by a company, a product, a service, an offering, is more important than the objective quality or even appropriateness of said offering. I feel welcome and accommodated at my restaurant recommendation. The atmosphere and ambiance appeal to me, and they accommodate my menu requirements without question. And that is enough to make me prefer it over some vegan restaurants that would offer me more menu choices, but don't make me feel as good when I'm there.
I thought of that today when my iPhone had a weird glitchy freezy moment, and I had to turn it off and back on.
When my Treo does this I feel my head begin to explode. When my iPhone did this I simply re-started it and moved on.
Now, it's true that when I was using the Treo heavily i'd have to re-boot it several times a day, so the frequency is much much worse, but the real problem is that even when the Treo is behaving properly, it does not thrill me. it does not entice me. It does not do things wonderfully. It's prosaic and clunky.
There is no payoff that makes the occasional price worth it.
Whereas when the iPhone is working properly...which is most of the time...it is the coolest gadget I've ever owned. It thrills me more than the very first Palm I had, or when I got a Sony Vaio with its beautiful purpley color, or when I first switched to Apple products with the iLamp-style iMac and the iPod.
Anyway, this may be a pretty random post to get my juices flowing here at Worker Bees again, but somehow, in my brain, my column about vegan holiday gifts made me think of my iPhone. Go figure.
Labels: iPhone, Silicon Veggie, Treo
// posted by ElisaC @ 10:03 PM 
