Apple, iPhone 4 - is this surreal or what?

There's lots that's surreal about Apple. It was the maverick from the get-go, and when it released the first Macintosh in 1984, there were guffaws from 'serious' techs at the cute little thing and, more particularly, at the fact it came with an input device called a mouse.

It was widely predicted to fail. That seems ridiculous now. Not just with the mouse, which pretty much every desktop on the planet now uses. But Apple was also going to fail as a company.

It almost did, sure, but that was over a decade later. Then Steve Jobs came back, introduced the first iMac, eventually levered his NEXT-inspired OS X into it, and the rest is history.

Apple still makes Macs of course, but along the way has also introduced the iPod, iPhone and now, the iPad. Apple Computer became Apple Inc.

But the tag of 'surreal' keeps on being applicable. There's the cult of Apple that has people setting alarms to watch streaming videos of Steve Jobs' keynotes at ungodly hours of the morning. There's the guy who attends every US Apple Store opening. There are those who pay fortunes to go on Alaskan cruises with Apple techs and aficionados. There are Apple tattoos, Apple conventions, queues outside Apple Stores for new products.

There's the surreal fact that Apple keeps growing, and its profits keep growing, despite a major recession.

There's the surreal love of Apple despite what Apple does. (I fit into this camp - I am heartily sick of telling people Apple does not, and never has, paid me to write anything about Apple. I do so out of genuine affection and interest.)

There's the surreal back-lash hate of Apple by many who have the least idea of how Apple works, what it does or what its products are like. This is typical - it's a spooky part of human nature to hate that which we know least about.

But hardly anyone understands how Apple works, actually.

I think it's surreal that I have always bought Apple products despite having pretty low incomes at different times since my first Mac Plus 1989. Despite the cost, I have never considered a PC. My wealthier friend reckons Apple products are too expensive - he holidays far more than I, has a bigger house and a much newer car.

But he struggles daily with a cheap PC whereas I get heaps done, in different fields, and constantly, with my Mac. (And I'm glad to be in my shoes, thanks very much.)

I think it's surreal how Apple has always been marketed here by a licensed distributor. For a while it acted how Apple would act, except it acted how it thought Apple would act, which was surreal in itself.

That distributor is currently redefining itself, in a very good way.

And there's 'Apple NZ' which is actually Apple Australia which reports to Apple Singapore which reports to Cupertino, Apple's US HQ. This is an untypical structure inside what is an untypical enterprise anyway.

But the general air of surreality - the secrecy, the cult-like followers, the attractive product lines, the anxious wait and collective held breath for new products, the ubiquitous generation of hype - people like me all over the world seize on every slightest tidbit of Apple-related information to further relate ... Anyway, this Apple surreality doesn't often impinge directly on New Zealand.

But today, it did.

What on Earth is going on with this iPhone 4 non-launch?

Steve Jobs said three weeks ago it was going to be on sale in New Zealand today (along with 16 other countries).

Apple refused to confirm.

Vodafone NZ refused to confirm.

On Tuesday, Apple NZ (Apple Australia) announced iPhone 4 would be on sale here today, just like Steve Jobs said three weeks ago.

Last night, the iPhone 4 info got pulled from Vodafone's site.

On Apple NZ's site, there was still no option to buy the iPhone 4 at one minute past 12. There was no option to buy at 3:40am and no option to buy at 7am, or 8am or 11am (and I'm at a funeral for the rest of the day, so if it turns out you can actually buy one, sorry, I won't know).

Even Apple's ad agency knows nothing.

iPhone 4 was not on sale at Vodafone shops, or at Übertec or MagnumMac ...

On GeekZone there were rumours flying:

Vodafone has split from being Apple's carrier.

The iPhones didn't arrive.

The launch date has been changed for reasons inexplicable.

Once again, these are rumours - I have had no word, official or otherwise, from anyone about any of this, apart from 'we don't know'.

I really hope someone, somewhere, clears all this up.

I was ready to buy an iPhone 4 today. I really want one. I saved the money. I'm not alone. I now find myself in the bizarre position of holding Apple to account for not being able to take my money on the day I wanted Apple to take my money. (In my defence, it is the day Apple told me they would take my money.)

Surreal? Or what?

-Mark Webster mac-nz.com