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It's been a little over two months since the iPhone 15 came out. That seems like enough time for an in-depth review, though that's not really what is interesting to me. The iPhone 15 is great. If you're in the market for a new iPhone, you should buy one. You'll be very happy.
On the other hand, it's also been just over two months since Apple released what I think can fairly be called its most-hated product ever: the Finewoven Case for the iPhone. I have been using one for just over two months now, for reasons I'll get into below, but the experience taught me a surprising lesson that is worth considering for anyone building products for consumers.
I should say that I fully intended not to use a case at all on my iPhone 15 Pro Max, but after the first few days, I started to notice that I was scratching it up a bit. Mostly on the screen, which is, honestly, the only part of the iPhone I care about since it's the part I'm looking at. I even ended up with a small crack on the back glass because I'm apparently incapable of keeping a new iPhone looking new.
As a side note, I do pay for AppleCare +, which will repair the damage for a reasonable $29. Still, it does seem easier to avoid messing up my iPhone in the first place, so I decided it was time to put on a case. I had ordered a Finewoven Case--despite its poor reviews--which has now been on my iPhone since September.
First of all, the Finewoven Case is fine. It is. It's not great, and it's certainly debatable as to whether it's a worthy successor to leather, but it's not nearly as terrible as a lot of people would have you believe.
As a case, it does the thing you expect a case to do--keep your iPhone from getting unnecessarily beat up. It's also one of the lighter cases I've tried, a thing that matters more than you might think, especially when you're carrying around the larger-size iPhone model.
That doesn't mean that it's a great case. It definitely doesn't seem as durable as you might hope for the price--which, at $60, is more expensive than high-quality leather cases from companies like Nomad. After just two months, mine is pretty beat up and faded along the edges. It also has plenty of scuff and scratch marks.
But--and I think this is important--that's not much different than basically every other case I've used in the past. In fact, in most ways, this case is like all the other cases I've ever used. It's not my favorite, and I understand why people don't care for the texture--it's an acquired taste--but as a case, it's fine. That's not the problem. The problem is that as an alternative to leather, it's a failure.
But, if you stop thinking about it that way, and just think about it as a different style of case, it's not bad. That is, ultimately, the surprising lesson here: It turns out that the story you tell about a thing is very important in terms of how people understand and use it. Apple made a big deal about Finewoven as an alternative to leather, mostly because of its environmental efforts and a commitment to make its products carbon-neutral by 2030.
But, for someone who likes leather, Finewoven is not leather. Had Apple just talked about Finewoven as a new type of case, I don't think it would have been nearly as hated as when it talked about it as replacing leather. It is different in almost every way and that means it might be a good case, but it isn't a good replacement for a leather case.
It doesn't feel as nice as leather, and it doesn't seem as durable as leather. (Maybe it is as durable as leather, but it doesn't seem like it, and that's the point.) The way people perceive a product matters more to their overall satisfaction with that product than anything else. Understanding that distinction might be the most important lesson of all.
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I Used Apple's Most-Hated Product for 2 Months and Learned This Surprising Lesson
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30.11.2023
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It's been a little over two months since the iPhone 15 came out. That seems like enough time for an in-depth review, though that's not really what is interesting to me. The iPhone 15 is great. If you're in the market for a new iPhone, you should buy one. You'll be very happy.
On the other hand, it's also been just over two months since Apple released what I think can fairly be called its most-hated product ever: the Finewoven Case for the iPhone. I have been using one for just over two months now, for reasons I'll get into below, but the experience taught me a surprising lesson that is worth considering for anyone........
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