U.S. president Barack Obama has, in a live address discussing the shutting down of the government, compared downtime and site issues with Obamacare and healthcare.gov to the launch of a new Apple product. Whenever the fruit company does release a new gadget – particularly when said gadget just so happens to be an iPhone – the Apple site tends to grind to a halt, with the frenzy of shoppers flocking to stores causing all manner of disturbance besides.
Whenever something new launches, seldom does the release period pass without incident, and when you’re talking about a major shake-up of the healthcare system, you can’t expect everything to run smoothly right off the bat. Obamacare has been a long time in the waiting, and in spite of the controversy and staunch opposition, is now in the process of being officially launched.
The healthcare.gov site has experienced major issues amid the transition, and Obama sees it as comparable to a new Apple product launch. In a sense, he’s correct, for when Apple dropped iOS 7, it was quickly revealed that there were several major bugs and glitches with the new firmware. Luckily, the fruit company came through with the remedy in iOS 7.0.2, and the launch of Obamacare – despite these early teething issues – should be swiftly back on track.
Obama, like many well-known individuals, is regularly spotted clutching his iPad, so is perhaps well versed in what it’s like to get caught up in the rush of a new launch. We’d doubt that he’s ever sat around waiting for an update on a Passcode bug, but it’s fair to say that when Apple makes a big revelation, the world, as well as the tech world, tends to get itself in a bit of a frenzy.
Although Obama has chosen to compare the outages to an Apple product launch, perhaps the launch of GTA Online would have been more apt. The grand roll out of the multiplayer feature has been fraught with issues as millions rush to hop aboard, and users of both the PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE have suffered as a result. Of course, when you’re trying to run a country, making comparisons with one of the most controversial, violent games is probably not the best way to go – particularly when a large faction of the electorate is not necessarily behind you.
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