Google’s Vic Gundotra on the iPhone
I’ve got a story over at the Mothership about Google’s iPhone plans, in which Vic Gundotra, the company’s vice president of engineering, talks about Google’s commitment to producing native apps for the iPhone. (It’s part of a larger profile of Google’s Mac development efforts that I wrote, just in case that sort of thing interests you.)
Anyway, there’s an anecdote Gundotra related to me that I couldn’t fit into the article but that I think is amusing enough to repeat here.
He told me that he and his family were having lunch a few weeks back with another family — adults clustered at one end of the table, kids at the other. And at one point in the conversation, Gundotra’s friend asks a question that Gundotra doesn’t know the answer to. He says, “I don’t know,” which is when his four-year-old — previously indifferent to the adults’ conversation — chimes in: “Daddy,” she asks, “where’s your phone?”
“What happened was, she heard me tell my friend ‘I don’t know,’” Gundotra told me. “And when she hears me say, ‘I don’t know,’ she expects me to pick up my iPhone and get an answer. That’s the world a four-year-old is growing up in.”
I’ve had similar experiences with other technology. For example, sometimes when I’m in a movie theater and I miss a portion of the dialogue, I’ll instinctively make a motion with my hand like I’m pressing the Rewind button on a TiVo remote — I’ll even mimic the little be-boop noise the TiVo makes when it rewinds, if I’m being especially mindless. And I always feel just a trifle disappointed when the movie doesn’t rewind on my command.
But that’s just me. How about you? Got any stories about how the iPhone — or some similar electronic doodad has changed the way you interact with the world around you?
Category: Musings
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Comments (8)
I used to carry a phone book in my car. Now I just go to maps on my iphone and put in what I'm looking for. Voila .... everything I need right there. I just love it.
Posted by Liz | May 16, 2008 3:58 PM
When I'm watching TV anywhere but my place (where I have a DVR) I frequently start looking for my remote to rewind and look at, for example, a particularly good goal three or four extra times. I also have become increasingly dependant on Goog 411 in place of my phone book...
Posted by Nathan | May 16, 2008 4:17 PM
did you mean the four-year old asked "where's your iPhone?"?
Posted by Daniel Chow | May 16, 2008 4:28 PM
"did you mean the four-year old asked "where's your iPhone?"?"
My notes from the interview say "phone." To a four-year-old, I'm sure, an iPhone is pretty much a phone.
Posted by Philip Michaels | May 16, 2008 4:36 PM
I try and "tivo" my car radio ALL the time!
Posted by maclia | May 16, 2008 5:10 PM
Though I don't listen to radio much anymore (thanks to podcasts and my iPod), but when I do, I find myself wanting to rewind because my mind wanders driving in my car.
Oh, and life? Oh yeah. That too. Why isn't there a rewind for life situations when you say something stupid or hurtful?!?
Posted by CB | May 17, 2008 3:58 AM
I have tried to clear information from the screen that is actually part of the broadcast.
My family pulls the "where's your iPhone" bit too.
Posted by Dave-O | May 17, 2008 11:28 AM
When I was a child, my eyes were all day long on a book, a dictionary or an encyclopedia, as I wanted to know everything.
Now I don't even bother. At first, when my friend and I where having troubles finding out like which director filmed this movie, how much does it cost to whatever, or the definition of a weird word we just stumble upon, I would take my iPod and if an open network is close I would say " well, google will tell us". Now basically I'm still doing the same thing, but I'll rather say "well, I'll ask big bro then".
Also, if I leave my place without my phone, I'll come back for it, especially when I'm off meeting friends, as if I couldn't do it anymore like back when there wasn't any.
Posted by Mister B | May 18, 2008 4:08 PM