Saturday Night Live’s latest parody sketch gives life to that oft-quted phrase ‘first world problems’. (Here’s an alternative link if the one above doesn’t work). In a biting take-down of some of the legitimate, but sometimes whiny niggles us tech press have with the new iPhone 5, the show assembled a mock Tech TV show called Tech Talk. Chaired by Christina Applegate, it features ‘writers’ from Cnet, Wired and Gizmodo who initially complain about Maps, a purplish hue in photos of the sun, and the unbearable lightness of the iPhone. These problems are variously described as a ‘nightmare,’ ‘unacceptable’ and ‘impossible’ to deal with.
Three Chinese factory workers who made the iPhone are lined up to put these ‘problems’ into perspective. “You wanted Starbucks, but it took you to Dunkin’ Donuts?” says one worker. “That must be so hard for you… I guess we are lucky that we don’t use Maps since we SLEEP where we work,” says one. Ouch, this is going to hurt.
It turns out the workers have a few ‘bugs’ with the iPhone too – mainly the lice in their beds in the factory.
No amount of back-pedalling or apologizing gets the tech commentators out of the situation, including the workers bringing out a Chinese violin to accompany the whining.
Applegate asks the workers if they’d, in turn, like to complain about any American products. We won’t spoil the answer for you, but it’s a doozy.
Suffice to say, it’s a sketch worth catching.
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