iThoughts on the iPhone

As most of you know, the iPhone's price has been lowered by $200 by the "great and all-knowing" Steve Jobs, only 2 months after it was released (http://www.apple.com/hotnews/openiphoneletter/). And then the day after, he offers $100 credit to those who bought it early. And most of you know that I have an iPhone, so, many people have texted/emailed/accosted me regarding this. And my response is, "It's still worth it!"

Yes, I was shocked and a little frustrated that there was a huge price drop so soon, especially since I bought it at full price. But considering how much I've enjoyed using it, I don't mind it at all. First off, with technology, you should expect prices to drop constantly, as newer and better technology is being invented everyday. If you keep waiting for the "next one" to come out, you'll never stop waiting. You have to say at one point that the specs meet your needs, and will meet your needs for a few years to come, and just buy. That's what I did with my Macbook Pro. I knew the Core 2 Duo one was coming, and decided to get it when it was released. Yes, Apple has released a new version since then, but can it do anything that my current one can't do? It's only a little faster, which translates to about 0.00001 nanoseconds, which isn't really worth it. But back to the iPhone, everyone's saying to wait for the 2nd Generation. But if I wait for the 2nd Generation, why not wait for the 3rd, or the 4th, etc? When will it stop? Right now, I have the iPhone, which has cured my boredom on several different occasions, and which I have used for productivity purposes when I was in Canada. And of course, you can't disregard the Wow factor, where everytime I take it out, people always wanna see and touch. And I think one person in particular in our church with the same name as me has been eyeing it jealously (Yeah, you know who you are :P).

I think most of you will be saying, "You can't even use the phone", or something more insulting. :) But it's only a matter of time till I get it unlocked anyway. I already have 2 other cellphones anyway. Once I get this unlocked, I'm selling them both off. I noticed that I have no interest whatsoever in new cellphones anymore. I used to go to gsmarena a lot to check out what new phones have come out, and drool over them. But since my iPhone came out, I've been thinking of trading down my N80 to something small and simple. And yes, I do believe Apple has done a great job with the iPhone, despite the lack of certain features and locking the phone to AT&T. And no, I'm not an Apple Fanboy like the aforementioned person with the same name as me. :) As for the features, I found that those were easily remedied by downloading a hack (yes, a hack, and no, it doesn't void my warranty) which lets me install tons of 3rd party applications to my phone. I can now read ebooks, play NES games, other games, doodle, view MS Office files, etc. Not bad, eh?

So, if I could go back in time and stop myself from buying the iPhone, and just wait, would I? The answer is a big, resounding, "NO!" Would I advise people to get it? It depends. Well, first, if your significant other will let you. :P Second, I don't think everyone would necessarily want or need it. If you have a Treo or Blackberry, you pretty much have the same functions, probably more. If you don't have one, do you have a need for the functions that they offer? (And when I say "need", I mean a real need for something like a job or whatever, not a perceived need.) If so, then the iPhone is for you. If not, save your money, and wait for something else to come along.