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The iPhone Is Water-Down Proof
Annual “boring” updates keeps it special in a different way
As expected, last week was Apple’s big fall iPhone announcement. And, yes, it can easily be classified as “boring”. What was once a time of the year that was filled with excitement of the “next big thing” has become normal and a bit bland. But when you iterate on a product annually for 16 years, the news of that product will always plateau and lose excitement.
As a hockey fan, I can say the same for the annual Winter Classic, the NHL’s outdoor game that has traditionally been played on New Year’s Day. The first four years of it were amazing and a lot of fun. But it lost its luster after that. Why? Because it was the same thing over and over. And the NHL kept picking a lot of the same teams to play. Wikipedia’s page on the game shows the Bruins and Blackhawks each making 4 appearances with the Penguins close behind at 3. Only a total of 14 teams out of 32 have appeared in this game and it’s been going since 2008.
What always got me, as an NY Islanders fan, is a game vs the rival NY Rangers at Yankee Stadium would be a natural shoe-in for the Winter Classic. And to date, it’s never happened. Instead, all we got was an installment in the “Stadium Series” which just watered down the whole outdoor game concept even further. In the end, the…
