Saturday, November 10, 2007

Masculine Parade

And so the iphone.

Now some of you are going to say that its only ‘envy’, and yes there is a certain level of lusting involved, but did anyone else find Apple’s launch of the iphone a tad over-masculinised?

I appreciate that as a Girl Geek, I am rather a rare creature compared to my male counterparts. Just take a look at the iphone queue; male geek, male geek, male geek, male… And I do hate to divide things along girl n boy lines; but runs through the store, high-fives, cheers and body slams does this not smack of testosterone over kill?

Where if I was queuing was my token Apple massage for example, free goody bag with say Burberry’s perfect accessory for the savvy and protective minded geek chic this season an iphone studded phone cover.

It doesn’t have to be everything for the boys, us Girl Geeks want in on the action too! Not least as my (male) friends’ iphone cover is well such a thing of horror that its encasement immediately transforms his most proud ‘appendage’ into something so unsightly that Ms Ugly Betty herself would be hard pressed not to gag at its vulgarity. Still there’s method in his bad taste inspired madness as his device is less than likely to be stolen, or drooled over for that matter. Apart from by me.

Too shallow? I hear you cry. Girls and boys this is the iphone, a gadget that (surprisingly for Apple) is not at the top of its innovation tree in terms of spec, but a device designed and destined for the beauty hall of fame of most desirable gadgets. Where ownership is about the ‘experience’ of the object and means a glazed look of satisfaction just by sending a text. I never thought SMSing could be so sensual. Mmm yummy. Plus if as my Silicon Valley contacts would have me believe for the first few days of iphone (pre)release lets just say there was a lust influx of above average male geek success in the courting department. Or maybe that just says something more about a lack of technique rather than any real ‘super’ powers of the iphone.

In terms of device appeal the iphone holds a high level of pure beauty fluidity, exquisite and feminine traits indeed. And yet on an unscientific account via The Guardian reporting only 7% of the queue were female. Does this mean that this device holds less Girl Geek appeal? Or did we all send our boyfriends down to sit in the queue and cold for us? Maybe we’ve already got ours via the States, unlocked it and marvelled at its key strokes. Whatever our reasons I hope we weren’t put off the crowds of male geek noise and parade of consumerism that Mr Apple sought to expertly concoct on a cold November morning.

Another version of this post appears on the Girly Geek blog, but I thought it particularly potent that it deserved exposure here too.