I, Phone

Yesterday, the IPhone came out. I suppose I should have known that throngs of fans would line up at Apple Stores and AT&T shops around the country, camping out as if it were a Wii or tickets to the latest, hottest band.

Given the 600 dollar price tag for the 8G model (seems anyone willing to spend the money won't stoop for the 4G model), a price tag comparable to the PS3, and some initial negative publicity (offset by more positive publicity as time drew near yesterday's release), it was surprising that there were lines. But Apple knows how to hype its own stuff (other than AppleTv) better than any company.

Would Apple deliberately undersupply like the Wii? The Wii was notoriously rare in March, with stores having no new stocks for over a month. Apple's not known for holding out, and such a strategy might wear thin on people wanting to buy it as soon as possible. Certainly, a Star Wars like strategy of getting a certificate for a product months after Christmas was something Apple wanted to avoid.

While the local AT&T stores ran out of the 8G models quickly, the Apple stores seemed to have plenty on hand. The stores closed for a few hours while the prepped up, and lots of extra employees were on hand.

Did Sony ever have such a release? Doubtful.

It's too bad Apple had to tie its hands by offering the phone with a service. I'm sure it had little choice on the matter. We'd all be worshiping Apple if it would free us from these megaliths of phone power, offering some truly innovative way to make phone calls.

For now, I'll stick with my Samsung, the budget version. I may get woo'ed by something better, but sometimes it's nice to simply have a phone that's just a phone.

(I know. The future is something like the IPhone. A computer that's a phone, MP3 player, camera, and Internet connection. But I'll wait until that eventuality happens).