iPhone voted UK's 'coolest brand' The iPhone has been elected as Britain's "coolest brand", knocking Aston Martin off the top of the CoolBrands list of desirables that it has dominated for three years. CoolBrands chairman Stephen Cheliotis said: "The iPhone is something everyone's been talking about. There has been such a buzz around it - and people that haven …
*mourns the death of good taste*
austin martin is (blatently) > iPhone. whichever way you look at it. will an iPhone impress anyone? pft. no, everyone who wants an iPhone already has 2 (iPhone, a 3G) and STILL somehow feels the need for a 3GS... an A.M. on the other hand will make the [insert appropriate gender unspecific classy term] putty in yours ;)
My wife was told her trusty Samsung mobile (supplied by her employer) was being replaced by an iPhone. A week or so later she called me from work and said "guess what?" I guessed she now had her iPhone and she asked how I knew. I told her "it's easy to tell. You sound like you're talking through a drain pipe with a mouthful of cotton wool". I wondered if she was in the middle of giving her boss a BJ to say thanks for the small shiny object of delight but no, it always sounds like that.
PS She also said "look, it has a compass". I told her when i was a kid I had pair of shoes with a compass *and* animal footprints moulded into the heel. I win, iPhones suck arse.
Before you rant about a fanboi poll, think about it. If you ask lots of people which things they think are "cool" then OBVIOUSLY any products whit a FANBOI base (alternatively known as popular or desirable) will do well.
Its like talking about the fact that "niche" films aren't'" popular, because if they were "popular they would cease to be niche"
The British Brain Trust were asked? Well, I'd better just go out and do the morons' bidding!
I'll replace my HTC Hero and Nokia 6500 with an iPhone and iPhone 3GS, my laptop with a Macbook, my desktop with a Powermac, and my Crative Zen with an iPod touch. After I've replaced my brain and personal preferences with the say-so of a panel of self-important fuckwits.
Twunts, the lot of them.
I'm with you, the Veyron is way cooler than any other car. (Except maybe that '35 Duesenberg I saw at the museum the other day ...)
And I thought, based on what I'd heard on Top Gear, that the c*cks had moved from the BMW to the Aston Martin. Although around here, they tend to drive a Lexus or Prius.
Aston Martin and Apple are brands, so no issue there.
The iPhone and iPod however are product sold under a brand, NOT a brand in their own right. This is why they are correctly called the Apple iPod and the Apple iPhone.
When the voters don't know what they are voting on it's hard to take much head of the results.
... the type of people who make time to fill out a survey about something as banal as "cool brands" are also the type of people who are concerned about the brands of things, get seduced by shiny tat and also want to find time to justify their shiny tat by boasting about how cool it is.
The whole list just smacks of it... the type of lower class ideology of cool that marketeers feed off.
Utter fail.
This is a Vox Pop poll. Of course it's going to reflect what the masses (sheeple, chavs, whatever) think. Personally i'm surprised to see B&O, Vivienne Westwood and Tate Modern in there at all.
All this shows is some of my favourite (aspirational) brands (not Vivienne Westwood, obviously)are being devalued by appealing to iPhone owners!
Why do Register readers hate (and I mean really HATE, not just dislike a bit) the iPhone and iPhone users? While some people might have one because they think it makes them look cool, most people that have one do so because they (gasp) like the iPhone. I like the interface, I prefer the on-screen keyboard (on which I can type 40 wpm) to the physical keyboards on other smart phones, and I like that there's a large selection of apps available for it.
I had no real need for an iPhone for personal use, but I bought one because I was writing iPhone apps, and the simulator could only go so far. Since I got it though, I've come to like many aspects of it, and wouldn't trade it for another phone. There are some things I don't like, such as the fact that AT&T sucks, and you can't set the volume of an alarm separate from the general phone volume, but overall I really like it. If you don't like it, fine. There are plenty of other phones out there. There's no reason to make fun of people who do like it though.
BTW. @Rob - The Veyron? What's cool about the Veyron? It's ugly, expensive and heavy. Yeah, it's fast, but that doesn't make it cool. If I had to choose between an Aston and a Veyron, I'd choose the Veyron. But then I'd sell it, buy an Aston (a much cooler car), and have lots of cash left over. (btw, Aston Martin is much cooler than the iPhone. It's also an actual UK brand, unlike the iPhone)
...that the footballers from next year will be driving around in iPhones? They only ever seem to drive what's "coolest" at that time and immediately tackify it for everyone else. I have a feeling the new McLaren MP4-12C will have this issue (despite the F1-inspired geekname) along with the new Ferrari! (Which the company I notice, have appeared.)
I'd have an Aston any day over an iPhone, but why is Jaaaaag missing from there? Not enough footballers to qualify?
Does the iPhone look like it's from the 80's? No, and therefore it's not cool. It was cool for a while, but now that your idiot boss and his spotty oik of a teenage son both have them it's kinda lost its exclusivity.
What we're really talking about is the 'Conformists' top twenty brands you have to buy if you think that being cool means doing the same thing as everyone else who thinks they're cool (but aren't). Except the Aston Martin, obviously.
I'd suggest the coolest brand around right now is clearly the newly announced Lotus F1 team.
Out of the blue our FD received a brand-new, boxed iPhone 3G delivered to his home address - left unsigned-for!! (Maybe an addressing error or some kind of third party fraud attempt?). He thought it was a mistake by us IT bods and, anyway, being a Blackberry sheep he sent it 'back' to our offices, unopened.
We couldn't wait to get rid of it (box still unopened) ASAP, so we contacted O2 and it's gone.
weDon't either - even when they fall in our laps!
hahaha, look at these comments. jealous "widowz" fanbois crying out loud a dry river.
the results of the survey are a fact and whether you like it or not. the iPhone Is certainly NOT "Why the iphone will fail and fail badly"
In fact, i suggest you take this news, roll it and smoke it slowly.
Whilst you're using your energy to bash and criticize anything apple does, know that its popularity and market share are growing slowly but surely.
the world laughed at apple when they introduced the iphone and some even predicted a major failure. now, the whole cell phone industry is playing catch up.
Have some sense of fairness in your thinking. don't just be stubborned nerds with a diet to match.
Nah, an Aston is cooler than a Bugatti Veyron. Using the KST "Top Gear cool wall" test methodology, she'd recognise the car as an Aston and instantly end up in bed with you (appropriately enough, some stages ommitted), whereas the Bugatti you'd have to point out its 1001 horsepower, its 10 radiators, that it lowers itself in motion, etc.
Using the same methodology the iPhone is instantly uncool as at least one of the Top Gear cast have an iPhone (Jeremy, and with his hair I'd expect Hammond to have one too).
Anyway, iPhone is never going to be cooler than an Aston. Proofs- pull up outside a pub with an Aston and make a call on your iPhone. Which one gets the most attention?
Alternatively, say the following phrases-
"Lets go out to dinner in the Aston"
"Hey, I'm out for dinner. Call me back on my iPhone"
Which one makes you sound like a twat?
How about- picture the following in a Bond movie.
"I'd have a bottle of Dom Perignon '53 (not served over a temperature of 38F... and I'll have some earmuffs to go with the Beatles soundtrack too)"
"Which wine do I want? Gimme a minute- there's an app for that on my iPhone..." or
"hey, look how this thing zooms pictures!"
or how about the slightly sillier
"Now pay attention 007. You'll be equipped with an iPhone 3Gs with modifications. See this red button? Whatever you do don't press it."
"Oh, and why not?"
"Because it's rigged to blow up."
"A one-button self destruct? You're joking!"
"Well, some steps have been ommitted..."
Anyway, the demographic for this is clearly art/media students, or possibly people from a small area of London. No-one else would say "coolest brand? Hmm... the Tate Modern art gallery. Yeah."
What's the big deal about multi touch? I mean, apart from zooming in and out of photo's, what else does it do? People make it sound like the coming of the holy grail, but unless you work for CSI, zooming in on suspects faces, what's the big kerfuffle?
As for the popularity thing, you watch how many American shows have their actors caressing iPhones - maybe even a few Brit shows (hide the logo, you still know what you're looking at), and you try giving your kid an MP3 player when everyone at their school has an iPod - his love will turn to hate in milli seconds.
Plus, of course, you've got the dumbing down of Western civilisation to look at too.
Hur dur, Catherine Willows got iPhone, pretty. Me want...
Great to see my prejudices confirmed in the comments section! Turns out people who a) take a list reporting the results of a small poll on an indefinable and subjective quantity way too seriously (mistaking it for a command to enjoy 'cool things') and b) hate Apple are actually all middle-class snobs with an inferiority complex!
I don't understand the dismay at iPlayer being at #20 - by that position things are already dreadfully uncool, sitting well below those paragons of poor taste Ferrari and Mini.
As Jeremy Clarkson revealed when he downgraded the TT, something ain't cool when enough people have one.
Aston Martin is cool because you can dream about it. Who the hell dreams about iPhones and iPods?
(I'm the guy with 3 iPhones, 2 iPod Touches, two nanos, a macbook pro, mac pro, and knows none of them are cooler than a car that can make girls drop their underwear...).
If the majority thinks it's cool, it isn't. With the really cool stuff, 90% of people won't even have heard of it, let alone think to vote for it in some crappy survey.
This is just a list of things the majority of people would like to have. Which makes all of it uncool. All of it.
And guys, I'm afraid modern Astons are no longer cool, however much you wish that was the case. Since they're no longer hand-made and you see them everywhere, they are today's 1980s stockbroker Porsche 911.
And whatever your Top Gear addled man-brain tells you, they don't have this mystical effect on women. How do I know? Well I'm lucky enough to hang around with guys and girls who can drive any car they want. And the cars the girls buy for themselves? A Mini or Fiat 500. And the cars the girls LOVE their guys to drive? A Morgan, an E-Type, or a classic Aston DB4. Modern Maseratis are cool. But now I've told you this, you'll think they're cool too, so they're no longer cool.
Fully specced up DB9? Cutting edge Ferrari? Trying too hard. That is just not cool.
Anonymous Coward? Just too cool for school.
I should have said that I also like Astons as well, I made the comparison with a phone not another car, read people, read.
@AC 00:48 - I'm not buying a Bugatti Veyron to get someone into bed, I'd buy it for speed thrills (although I doubt it would be practical in this country, so I'd have to store it somewhere near the Nürburgring). If i had that much money in the first place I'd buy an Aston as well for the run down to Tesco :D
@Sarah Baucom - LOL, you may think it's ugly but not me, by the way the iPhone isn't my cup of tea, the Apple lock in is a hideous feature, you say tomato, I say... ;)
@Richard - '35 Duesenberg, v.nice, my type of classic, I've gotta thing for those classics with running boards.
Can you read?! The majority of posts are *decrying* the survey! Over HALF of the posts are negative towards the iPhone and/or the survey. Of those, half of them revert to some kind of name calling. How are those middle class Daily Mail reading inverted-snob glasses of yours? @AC 28/09/09 16:56 GMT, the last sentence applies to you too.
@Richard 102: Nah, BMW drivers have swapped for Audi...
The presentation of the poll could have been such that those who like Aston Martins would not want to take part.
For example, the vote show like X-Factor does not represent the whole UK's opinion. It represents the opinion of those who watch the show are are gullible to part with the cash for a premium rate voting number.
"You really need to sort your marriage out. If you come across like that in real life I'd say there's a pretty good chance she is boffing her boss on the side."
As it happens, we have a near perfect marriage *because* we speak freely to each other. I also doubt she'd be "boffing her boss" as she can't abide being in the same building as him. You see, both of them were up for his current job and he got it despite being utterly clueless, less qualified and has a record of profligate spending. It's still very much a man's world in Australian IT.
Do you have any other fanciful theories to share? I can't wait.
Yes thanks, I can read. As I said, "mindless fanboi-ism aside", doesn't matter whether it comes from Apple loving drones, MS shills, or any other variety of idiot, what I don't understand is why folk are so keen to try to associate themselves with a faceless multinational corporation. Newsflash: Apple doesn't love you back.
For the record, though, I'll tell you why I don't like the iPhone - it is a status symbol, it is far too large to fit in any normal person's trouser pocket, and it attracts the sort of people who think it makes them important because they bought one.
As for the matter of name-calling, you state that half of the posts here are anti-iPhone, and that half of those resort to name calling. Reading down, I can see that a good portion are anit-iPhone, yes, but people are entitled to express their opinion. There are two posts that I can see that resort to name calling, one of which is yours. An ad-hominem attack is never going to win you any debates my friend, and won't mask the inaccuracies in your arguments. I take it you are an Apple supporter yourself, from your rather ill-thought out and reactionary response, so I will repeat myself, "I notice most of the name calling is coming from the Apple mob", this now includes you.
I hate the iPhone because it's too big, it severely lacks flexibility, has taken too long to get even basic features in (i.e. MMS), despite being so big doesn't have a removable battery amongst other things.
The fact is it's just not a good device, it's more expensive, and much too bulky compared to other cheaper, but better engineered, more open, more pleasant to use, less intrusive devices like the HTC Android handsets, the Palm Pre and so on for example.
The only reason you'd have an iPhone is if you're gullible enough to fall for the brand in the first place, if you want attention because other people fall for the hype and mistakenly think it's a decent device without having ever seen one, or because you outright oddly just like inferior devices at higher prices.
The fact is, you just have to be quite stupid to pay so much for a bulky, poorly engineered (it explodes ffs!!!), horribly locked down device when you could just pay less and get better.
iPhone cool? Did everyone under the age of 16 take this survey as to what is cool. Sure thing, they are great if you wanna get mugged, spend a fortune on buying one when for half the price you can have a phone that does the same and more plus not been branded with the MACintrash logo. Gotta love sheep who buy an iPhone for the name and don't use any of the 70,000,000 useless applications like the bubblewrap crap.
Good smegging luck! BMWankers have notoriously scooted over to ruin Audi's Image. If they could afford to up to an Aston they wouldn't be as cool as they actually are! (Note I said Aston, Austin...fucking American shite cars...retards...)
I have an iPhone 3G by the way...it makes me look awesome and I pull it out whenever I'm in public. I even got the white one so that it looks different from most peoples black ones and I'm therefore even cooler still!
I just wish I had some friends...
Now now, the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti is a cool car. Good to look at, nicely engineered and a fantastic grand tourer- plus you'll never see some tit of a footballer driving one. Same with the 456 and other Ferrari GT cars- they'd pass the "cool wall" test. But yeah the 355's just tacky, the 360's getting that way and even the 599's going that way (by association with the other "entry-level" ferraris).
And Minis are a cool brand. They've got character, they're practical and fairly efficient- they're even pretty innovative.
Oh wait, you mean the new ones. Yeah, they suck.
Hello, Mr. Anonymous Coward. Funny how you claim the iPod is too big (5.18 cu in, 4.70 oz) when it's smaller and lighter than the Palm Pre (6.24 cu in, 4.76 oz), Blackberry Storm (5.97 cu in, 4.80 oz) and T-Mobile G1 (6.16 cu in, 5.6 oz). Maybe you're referring to the fact that its screen being bigger than any of those three. If the screen is "too big," then that's fine with me.
Your opinion might be that it's not as good as other phones, but it's just that - an opinion, not fact at all. In the 11 years that I've had a cell phone, I have not once had the need or desire to buy an extra battery or replace the existing one. The phone my iPhone replaced was 5 years old, so it's not like I replace my phone so often that I replace the whole thing rather than the battery. I'd bet money that less than 5% of cell phone users ever replace the battery. It's just not a big deal that it's not user replaceable (if in the very unlikely event I ever do need to replace it, I can send it in).
While I've been a Mac user for 20 years, I wasn't "gullible" and didn't "fall for the brand." I don't say "oooh! Apple! Must buy!" I didn't buy the first or second iPhones because they didn't have the features I wanted. I bought the 3GS because it did (and because the aforementioned need to have a physical device to develop on). I don't buy Apple monitors, or other components from Apple (RAM, drives, etc) because they're too expensive and I can get equivalent products elsewhere. I certainly don't want attention for having an iPhone. I don't even really use it in public. I don't include the "sent from my iPhone" in emails. I personally think that people who do things because it's "cool" rather than personal preference are lame, whether they start smoking to fit in, buy an iPhone to look cool, or bash the iPhone because that's apparently cool too. You're free to have your opinions, but bashing a product and stating your unfounded opinions as "fact" really make you look ignorant. I guess that's why you posted anonymously.
Oh yeah. It's funny that my coworker who recently got a Blackberry says he has to pay extra for Exchange support, and I don't. I can even get on VPN, ssh in, and work from my phone in vi if needed.
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