Art Of Geek

They can sense it’s presence!

September 11th, 2007 at 09:45am madgunde

Last Sunday, my wife and I drove down to Buffalo and bought ourselves iPhones. I chronicled our experience in a previous Art Of Geek blog post if you’re interested in reading about it and my first impressions.

One thing that I’m not looking forward to, is people asking “IS THAT AN iPHONE???” every time I pull it out in public. I seriously don’t want the attention from total strangers (unless they’re really hot girls, then I’ll make an exception). I was waiting for a doctor’s appointment yesterday, and my appointment was delayed, so I thought it was a perfect time to pull out the iPhone and maybe watch an episode of Family Guy. But then I looked up and saw a cop, a businessman and a guy who looked like he worked on either a cruise ship or an airline (his white shirt had those black bars with yellow stripes on them) waiting around me (true story!). I knew if I pulled the iPhone out, it would get the attention of all three of them for sure, and probably even the three women working behind the counter. Chances were pretty good that at least one of them would have the courage to ask me about it.

You see, I didn’t buy the iPhone as a status symbol, or to look cool, or pick up chicks (although it would probably be pretty useful for the latter). I bought it because I want to experience mobile computing nirvana, and I get a warm fuzzy feeling when I have something that makes me feel like I’m living in the future. It’s not about having something that other people don’t have, it’s just about having and enjoying it. If I had bought it for any of those other reasons, I’d probably pull the iPhone out in public on purpose. Because I didn’t buy it for those reasons and am fully aware that it WILL get annoying to have total strangers approach me often and ask about the device in my hands, I’m reluctant to reveal the iPhone in public, at least for the time being. In my mind, I’m worried that if I start to get annoyed by the amount of attention the iPhone attracts, it will diminish my appreciation for the device. Since I’m an early adopter of many gadgets, I’ve felt this way many times before, but never as strongly as for the iPhone. I think it’s because of all the new gadgets I’ve bought before, none has been so widely hyped or had so much consumer awareness. Also, the fact that the iPhone isn’t officially available in Canada means the number of people with the device will remain limited for quite some time.

I definitely envy the Americans. Since the iPhone has been on the market for a couple of months and Apple has sold over 1 million already, Americans can feel comfortable using their iPhone in public without drawing so much attention anymore. In time, the novelty will wear off and iPhone sightings will be common enough in Canada that they won’t draw the attention of everyone within a 10m radius. In the meantime, I’m just going to have to get used to it I guess…

Entry Filed under: Apple, Gadgets, iPhone