iPhone - Better Than Ever or Just New?
Gadgets, Products, Retail, electroinics
iPhone – Better Than Ever or Just New?
Written by Andrew Torchon
Apple has launched the new iPhone 3G at the equally new price of $199. This latest edition to Steve Jobs’ gadget rich empire updates the wildly anticipated and purchased iPhone by increasing Surfing speed, better email management, and GPS maps and supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync.
The rich HTML format gives a more desktop computer appearance for your email and supports MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, JPEG and iWork. This combined with an improved Calendar system and web browsing makes the 3G series of iPhone a must have for the business person in the mobile age.
But is it that much better that the original iPhone or even better than whatever cell phone you had before that?
In the blink of an eye, innovations in today’s world of technology, referring to an item as the original doesn’t have the same historical value as it once did. Unlike automobile manufacturers who come out with new versions of their models once a year; changes or improvements for the most part are largely cosmetic and from year to year hardly exciting. Tech gadgets on the other hand can make some giant leaps from one year to the next.
…or not.
You have to wonder if some of these things are really of value to jump on or even worth the wait.
When the iPhone first came out the rush to acquire this innovative piece of telephony/palm pilot apparatus was astounding. And upon reflection as a leap forward of scientific communicational mobility it stood up to its hype.
For about 3 days.
Almost immediately the issues of being locked into ATT as your provider was cause for some alarm and even more so were the cyber rumors of an Apple Orwellian hand reaching into your phone and yanking software if you dared tried to unlock it and use a different carrier. The price alone had given many consumers reason to pause especially since more scuttlebutt was rampant about a newer version coming in at a lower price.
The word that the next generation of iPhone to come out in less than a year as most next gen stuff has done, would wind up being better, faster, stronger and can you believe it……cheaper?!
If you are the kind of person that absolutely must have the latest and greatest new thingy on the market, if you trade in your car just about every year for the newest version whether you have it on lease or not as well as standing in line before midnight for the premier of this year’s blockbuster and if you throw away what ever clothes you wore last year because, god forbid they were last year’s – then yes, go get the new iPhone.
However if you feel that before laying out the piles deflated dollars you worked so hard to procure perhaps you’d like to assess if this next purchase is something truly meaningful. If it is totally wonderful – beauty! But could it be said that given the speed at which technology advances, before hurling yourself on the newest piece of Madison Avenue hyped trend and humping away your hard earned cash, take a second and review a few things:
1. What are you going to really do with this thing?
2. Will it be unique for more than 6 months or will there be clones of equal or even better quality in a very short time?
3. If I don’t get it on the exact day it’s launched can I still get it at the same or better price and of course not have to wait in some line around the block?
Let’s face it – getting something just because it’s the latest thing doesn’t always make it worthwhile. Sometimes taking a step back and letting the rush of lemmings run over the cliff allows you to be the last one standing on the precipice and enjoying the view.
Torchon @ July 18, 2008