Kevin Rand, copy editor

iPhone: iHate you 'cause iWant you

Today's technology innovations are tomorrow's old news

By: Kevin Rand

Posted: 9/12/07

I'm never going to buy anything ever again.

By the time I get home and open the box, the newest, latest model will be on the shelves, replacing the item I just bought.

That's why I don't want the iPhone.

I want whatever Steve Jobs is using.

I want the three-terabytes-of-memory version with the expandable, liquid-holofoil, thought-activated screen. The one Jobs is using right now.

Why buy anything nowadays? The companies are already working on the fourth and fifth generation models before version 1.0 hits the shelves.

Oh, and they also drop the price on the new-and-improved product to get you to upgrade your "old" product - like Apple's Jobs did with his new/old phone. From $599 to $399.

Did you know that when the first model of the iPhone released, the company that produced the touchscreens was all ready working on the fourth generation of that component?

Well, this is at least according to two Taiwanese businessmen I met on a golf course - no, I cannot afford to play golf, but my dad can - who work for a major corporation that produces screens for mobile phones, including the iPhone.

Are we so crazy that we wait in lines overnight to buy Nintendo Wiis or PlayStation3s just to be the firsts on our blocks to own them?

I guess so.

But most of us cannot afford to keep up with technology trends.

I thank Cingular, er, AT&T for locking me into a two-year contract. Otherwise I might upgrade my cell phone every other week.

When, then, is the right time to buy a product?

It's probably best to pay attention to the cycles followed the electronics companies follow.

Prices usually drop before the holidays, so that's always a good time. New computer technology usually goes public just before the fall, when school is starting, so I'd say that's not a good time to buy because the first-version price is usually the highest.

I'd wait for the bugs to be worked out of the first version, just long enough for the product to be immediately replaced by a totally new version in the coming months.

That's the only viable strategy of which I can think, but it's still a likely uphill battle.

For all we know there will soon be iPod because Apple will only be selling the do-it-all iPhone.

It's too bad this dilemma will probably never end. As consumers of new technology, we will often have to give in and buy that over-priced hybrid car or that BluRay disc player if we want to keep up.

If.

I have a 19-inch Sony LCD flatscreen TV in my bedroom I bought from that electronic store with the big blue-and-yellow sign about 18 months ago for $700.

I can go to that other big warehouse store - the one beginning with "Cost," ending with "co" -and buy a similar product today for $400. I should mention that the Sony I bought was a floor model. A brand new one would have hurt me $300 more.

And the moral of the story is …

I don't know.

We can only try to spend our money as wisely as possible. With all the new, cool stuff that will continue to come out, it's a lot more economical to be envious of those in debt than it is to be of those who spend wisely. I'm beginning to sound like my mother.

So save your money, kids.

When that electronics-store salesman tells you that financing your new pocket entertainment system will only cost you a cup of coffee a day for the next three years, tell him he's right.

That cup of coffee is now $4 a day, and I don't think Starbucks has upgraded from version 1.0 of the bean.