Devices, technological and rhetorical

Nick Carr plays to the gallery on his familiar pro-elitism theme with regard to "Steve's devices":

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Jobs, in fact, couldn't possibly be more out of touch with today's Web 2.0 ethos, which is all about grand platforms, open systems, egalitarianism, and user-generated content. Like the iPod, the iPhone is a little fortress ruled over by King Steve. It's as self-contained as a hammer. It's a happening staged for an elite of one. The rest of us are free to gain admission by purchasing a ticket for $500, but we're required to remain in our seats at all times while the show is in progress. User-generated content? Hah! You can't even change the damn battery. In Jobs's world, users are users, creators are creators, and never the twain shall meet.

Which is, of course, why the iPhone, like the iPod, is such an exquisite device. Steve Jobs is not interested in amateur productions.

Nick is conveniently overlooking the inclusion of a fully-featured web browser (Safari) in the iPhone, which will furnish users with a very big gap indeed in the Garden wall. All the same, you can't help but relish his punchy and rhetorical word-smithery.