Friday Blog Question: Are you getting the new iPhone?

There’s another Apple iPhone in stores today. And the lines around the stores will be long and distinguished. Well, the line will be long anyway. Personally, I have to wonder if there would be a line just as long if Steve Jobs simply had the company make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, stamp an Apple™ on them, and called them, “iLunch.” I’m leaning towards thinking it would be as long, even at $80. But no one really cares what I think, so I asked the Off Madison Ave employees: Are you getting the new iPhone? Why or why not? Do you already have an iPhone that you’ll be replacing with it? Do you like your current phone enough you don’t need to replace it? (Whatever kind it is?) Do you use/want something else that is way cooler than an iPhone? Which is more important: Placing/receiving calls, or trying to look cool?

Considering that my Fave 5 consists of my wife, my mother and three blank spaces, an iPhone would be a waste.  I’m not that cool, nor do I need a false sense of status. Chris Sietsema

You can read my diatribe for my thoughts on the new iPhone. With regard to the whole coolness factor, I honestly don't care.  I want the best functionality in the best form factor, and Apple products typically offer the best balance of both.  I laugh at people who buy Apple products for the coolness factor alone. If the iPhone was a crappy phone I wouldn't use one. Joseph Jaramillo

I have a phone that works just fine, at least most of the time (LG Chocolate). It has all the functions I need plus some I never use. I’m not getting an iPhone because I would never use half the functions on it, and I’d be way too afraid of scratching the screen to really enjoy using it if for some reason I learned to use all those extra functions. Plus, I can think of some way better things to do with all that money than buying a phone just to look “cool” - like paying for gas. Well, I guess that’s really not better, but definitely more necessary! Vanessa Geary

I have a first generation iphone - but did not get it right when it came out - but rather when they announced they were discontinuing the 4GB version and sold the remaining 4GB phones in inventory for $299.  I thought I got a great deal.  That is until the brand new second generation iphone is being sold for $100 less than what I paid.  For me, I just really like the usability and interface of the phone - I like being able to get my email wherever I go.  I never really thought it made me look cool - especially when I saw a 12 year old kid on the plane with one.  I have no need for the newer "cooler" version - I am happy with what I have now.  I will hold out for the iphone of the future that will answer your emails, pay your bills, and will be dispense cash like an ATM when I need it. Debby Hrach

I do have a current iPhone and I do want a new one but not for the coolness factor. For one reason only: 3G. I travel a lot and the iPhone has taken the place of my computer (and my iPod completely) on some of these trips and I suspect many more moving forward. And while WiFi is great, it isn't ubiquitous. Unless you need 3G, the old iPhone with the 2.0 software is now the second best phone on the market. Roger Hurni

Now that I've switched to Mac, I would definitely get an iPhone for ease of sync. However, the ATT coverage in Flagstaff is as skimpy as a butt floss bikini on Mission Beach. Thus, because I don't want to pay a monthly fee for yet another iPod, I'll pass. Jason Baer

The iphone is definitely amazing and a revolutionary device that everyone is trying to beat right now but I'm good with just phone and text.  I spend 70% of my day during the week on the computer so sometimes I need to be a little detached from the electronic world. Nick Hammond

I am getting the new iPhone. Actually, i stood in line this morning for one but they sold out. I have the current iPhone model and no, the new one isn't a massive improvement but I still want to have it. Maybe it is just Apple and their marketing. Maybe it is just a "cool factor."  But, I know i love my current one, and i can't wait to see what a faster connection + GPS will do to the overall experience. And the whole premise you raise of.. what is more important - making and receiving calls OR looking cool is a little skewed. Why does it have to be either or? Why not be "cool" with having something useful? What is wrong with that? If the iPhone only made calls, it wouldn't be cooler than any other phone. It is all of the OTHER functionality which makes it "cool" William Smith

I’ve considered getting the new iPhone, but realized that it would make me break my current contract ($200+), buy the phone ($200+accessories) and then pay for a contract (who knows, but it can’t be cheaper than the one I have now).  I also read Joseph’s wise review Why I’m Not Buying an iPhone 3G, and determined that until I have a need for one, I don’t need one. I got my Palm last year, and I love it, and I don’t I would consider switching phones until my contract runs out, or unless the iPhone was easily available on the Sprint network, which I also love. I have never bought a phone cause it was the “cool things,” I’ve always bought it out of necessity. Let’s see what happens in the next couple years. Ellen Stevens

So i didn't respond to the watch topic. But this relates. I have three watches, I use them for time, among other things. I also use my phone (Palm Treo 650) for time. I have a dress watch, a "nice one". It was a gift, not a four digit $ but a low three digit kind of watch - one I wanted for three years - a nice gift. What I'm getting at is that it's no Rolex (and I'm cool with that). But that an iPhone IS like a Rolex (and over time as you constantly upgrade, may cost as much). Some of us don't measure coolness, or status or whatever you want to label it - social hierarchy of some kind - with watches anymore, one way we measure it is in having "the latest". The latest tech toy/tool/color. The latest blog post. The latest social network, twitter anyone? In high school it was the latest music - not much has changed, it just got faster (irony that the iPhone got faster - I don't think so). Will i be replacing my phone - to the new iPhone? Most likely. In September or October. But not because it is so cool. Because I upgrade my phone about every three years, and I'll be due in Jan. You say I'll be a few months early - yes, but only because I'm fed up with the lack of proper sync'ing to my laptop not because the iPhone is so cool. Why not another phone? Because the iPhone is so cool. Oh and it will work with / match all my other Mac gear, and it is smaller and will fit into my new bag -  I know, I know such a *girl*. I would like something cooler than the iPhone? You bet. A better iPhone. One with turn by turn navigation, more space, more colors, a higher res camera with video capabilities, smaller size, MMS, copy/paste. It to be the key to my house and car and garage door opener too. Perhaps I cloud use IR to beam my credit card, insurance card or drivers license to someone so i didn't have to carry a wallet AND an iPhone. It could be carbon neutral or even suck it from the air! It could have a nail file, a blade, and chap stick in it. Then I wouldn't need a purse. There will always be something cooler, err newer - that's the nature of new. So whether or not I'm placing or receiving calls, tweets, txt, or using my iChapstick what I am doing is *communicating* -- communicating my "social hierarchy of some kind" with my iRolex, aka iPhone3G. Julie Ott

Ok Eric, here’s my post, which could possibly be considered a rant, but I still think it’s relevant and hits some of your points. Also might sound surprising coming from someone who wastes her life on Facebook and buys banner ad space all day long, but oh well…. To me I think having a phone that gets reception where I need it and dials is good enough. My phone stays hidden in my purse or bag most of the time anyway, so what it looks like doesn’t really matter to me.  When I sign up for a cell phone plan I normally just take whatever phone comes free with the contract (so I guess if the iPhone ever becomes one of the free options I’d take it). I also was never really a fan of the iPod to begin with, so having one on my phone really doesn’t appeal to me.  The idea of paying 99 cents for each of the thousands of sounds people download also seems crazy to me, I mean that’s still thousands of dollars just to be able to listen to something on the overpriced device! Well, I guess it’s thousands of dollars if people are doing the right thing and paying for them. The idea of having email on my phone also creeps me out. I really don’t want to be able to be reached at all hours of the day wherever I’m at. I need time to myself where I don’t need to be responsible and don’t need to worry about what everyone else is doing. If my phone could download all  my emails I would feel like there was no escape. Ok so more phones than just the iPhone can do that, but still. It would be interesting to know how many iPhone owners actually use all the features that the phone comes with.  In my personal opinion, paying $200+ just to say I could use one of those features if I wanted to doesn’t make sense. I think that people have become way too materialistic, especially in the current economy.  There are so many others things I would rather being doing with my money, or need to be doing with it, than paying the $100+ dollars per month to have service for a fancy phone.  Besides, I already pay to have internet access at my home, so I don’t really want to pay someone else to have it on my phone too.  And really what is the point of having an iPhone if you don’t pay for the Internet service to go with it? Maybe it’s because of my upbringing, but a phone that expensive just seems foolish. Well, I’d better get back to checking my email from my PC and listening to Garth Brooks on my disc-man. And another thing, what ever happened to snail mail? Allison Thor

About the Author: Eric Reid

I am the Social Media Services Manager for Off Madison Ave. I've been with the company since 2006, when I was hired to do SEO, and link building in particular. When social networking sites started cropping up, at first I started using them to create backlinks - but they weren't the best for that, given all of the "nofollow" attributes. However, I did see the potential for all of the direct referral traffic they represent. Since then I've been actively pursuing both tactics for clients: Links that can help them for search, and social postings that get them involved in the conversation. It's about the coolest job you could ever get. ;)

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