New High-Water Mark in iPhone Jackassery

Saturday, 23 June 2007

We’ve been swimming in iPhone jackassery all week, but no one’s ever going to out-jackass Rob Enderle. ABC’s Ashley Phillips, who quotes him as though he’s anything other than a fool, should be ashamed.

But, according to Enderle, design isn’t the iPhone’s only problem. He says that he believes the company could be opening itself up to class actions.

“A lot of kids are going to get this phone. Kids do a lot of [‘blind’] texting on their phones” without looking at the screen, sometimes while they’re driving, Enderle said. “With a touch screen phone, you have to look at the screen.”

Enderle believes it’s possible that teenagers could get into accidents while using the phone and, rightly or wrongly, many parents could end up blaming the manufacturer.

“One of these children is going to end up in someone’s trunk,” he said. “Often it’s the vendor that’s held accountable.”

“Rightly or wrongly” — I love that. As for these phone vendors who are “often” held accountable for people killing themselves while driving while texting, Phillips lets that slide without asking Enderle for a single example of such a vendor.

Enderle also believes that the iPhone, which he clearly has never touched, is “pretty slick” and thus will be prone to dropping. The mind boggles.

(If you can bear more, The Macalope, over at his new CNet digs, goes through Phillips’s article and Enderle’s comments in even more detail.)