The second coming

Manileños are used to “midnight madness” sales, but they got a special taste of Applemania last Friday (or make that Thursday, as the event took place over midnight) when Globe finally rolled out the iPhone 3G in a splashy launch at Tower One & Exchange Plaza on Ayala Avenue.

It was only around 8 p.m. when I joined a group of fellow members of the Philippine Macintosh Users Group (PhilMUG) at a nearby Figaro. We had agreed, like a band of happy lemmings, to march into the iPhone launch across the street together.

As one of the most hyped-up products in marketing history, the iPhone and its official arrival in the Philippines had stirred up feverish anticipation among Manila’s digerati as well as thousands of Globe subscribers who had reserved their units online. Many lined up outside Tower One as early as 3 p.m. Thursday to make sure they got their units before they went home early the next morning.

It was steaming hot inside the covered plaza, which had been converted to a very Mac-like all-black zone with the iPhone and its icons providing the color accents beneath two huge digital clocks displaying the countdown to 12:00:00. The sauna-like temperature dampened shirts but not spirits, as Globe’s sales team was out in full force taking and processing orders for the phone, which had reached the Philippines after being launched in the US on June 29 of last year in its first incarnation. (Its new 3G version debuted last month in the US, and on August 22 in the Philippines, India, Singapore, and 17 other countries).

Actually, make that the iPhone’s second coming to the Philippines. Since about August last year, hundreds of Mac addicts like myself and thousands more of the curious and digitally savvy had already managed to procure and use first-generation iPhones meant for use with foreign networks, unlocking them through third-party software of perhaps dubious legality (a point, however, that has yet to be tested in court). Unlocking worked, but every new software upgrade required a new round of workarounds.

The Globe iPhone’s entry into the picture does away with all that. It’s locked to Globe, of course, but because it’s legit, it works every way an iPhone should (well, almost — some services like “push” e-mail have to be set up), and updating software is a simple matter of syncing with your computer.

Many of those of us who gathered for the pre-launch dinner at Figaro (thanks, fellow Philmugger Charlie Paw of Digital Hub, for treating everybody!) already had first-gen iPhones; many had BlackBerries, Treos, Nokias, and SEs as well. Why were we getting another phone?

I suppose it’s a combination of product and person. Arguably, the 3G iPhone isn’t just another phone — but one with all the conveniences of the first iPhone (the all-in-one package of phone, media player, camera, browser, and e-mailer), plus the speed of 3G and some cosmetic and technical enhancements. The person likely to get one is also either someone who held out on the first iPhone (not me — I’m a “Rev A” type who boldly goes where no geek has gone before) in sage anticipation of a better Rev B, or an upgrade freak (that’s me) afflicted with a bad case of LAGS (the Latest and Greatest Syndrome).

But seriously, does anyone really need to buy the 3G iPhone? (Globe has laid out five purchase plans — “bento-box style,” Globe customer engagement manager Manny Aligada would tell me — to suit different budgets and usage patterns.) Of course not. Unless you’re like fellow Philmugger and broadcaster TJ Manotoc, who needs constant access to the news and the Web, you won’t need the speed of 3G all that much (and if you do, it’ll cost you a pretty penny). 

But it’s a nice option to have, and there’s no better package to carry all that speed than the iPhone, whose superb screen and powerful sound make it every bit as good a media player for music and movies as it is a phone. Text-happy Pinoys will get used to the multitouch on-screen keyboard pretty quickly, but will not appreciate the iPhone’s current lack of a message-forwarding function — something we hope a future firmware release will address.

I didn’t get my iPhone until the following morning (as a longtime Globe subscriber, I was due for a loyalty reward — a substantial discount on the unit). The unboxing of any new Apple product is a reverential, almost mystical, experience, and this was no exception. Its competitors should study Apple’s packaging to understand the hype and the mystique — Apple sustains the drama up to the very end. The first thing I noticed was how good the new iPhone felt in my hand, compared to the old one — warm plastic vs. heavy metal. (The plastic back is supposed not only to reduce weight but also improve wireless reception.)

I’ve yet to put it through its paces, but something that fits so snugly in my hand can’t be at all bad. I’ll have to see how well it stacks up not just against the first-gen iPhone (which I think will soon be making its way to my daughter Demi, who’s been waiting for the second-gen iPhone for just this reason, knowing her dad) but also against the BlackBerry, which has been getting a lot of pocket-time with me recently, being indispensable on the road. Once the euphoria’s blown over and I get my first 3G iPhone bill, I’ll fill out a report card and share it with you. Meanwhile, let me and my iPhone bask in that mellow, morning-after glow.

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E-mail me at penmanila@yahoo.com, and visit my blog at www.penmanila.net.