Slightly more than a year ago, I was in a somewhat similar position. I’d been eyeing Macs with unprecedented tech-lust and could not stop talking or thinking about them. Then I finally got one and the situation in no way improved. I’m passionate about my Mac. I love it and still talk about it all the time. I follow Apple news religiously, and stay on top of every rumor.
I own a first-generation iPod mini. It’s silver and hold four gigs of music. I do not carry it around with me. It’s a wonderful product, but it’s no longer right for me for everyday use. I’m no longer killing time between classes or while doing research in the library.
Of particular importance, I’m fanatical about things in my pockets. Notably, I hate to have things in them. I hate to feel my keys against my leg; it bothers me. When I go to work, I leave my phone in my car and my keys in my locker (which, incidentally, I don’t lock).
My music library is, at present, slightly more than 5 gigs, and growing. I also have a few gigs of TV shows, video podcasts, music videos, and the such. My poor mini can’t even hold all of my music, let alone do anything with my video. I considered getting a red 8 gig iPod nano late last year (an early Christmas present to myself), but persistent rumors of the iPhone persuaded me to wait. The Macworld conference was in January, and there was a good chance the iPhone just might make an appearance.
An iPhone, while perhaps not ideal for many people, is exactly the kind of product I want. Having as few things in my pockets as possible is of crucial importance to me. Furthermore, I want to be able to carry around my iTunes library with me. If I have ten minutes to kill while I get my car’s oil changed, I think it would be nice to be able to listen to my music. But that doesn’t mean I’m willing to carry around an iPod with me at all times, just in case I get the chance to listen to it. It’s a given that I’m going to have my phone with me, and I’m resigned to carrying it around whenever I’m out. The ability to combine the two devices into one is, for me, a monumental advantage.
Of course there’s also the fact that the iPhone is absolutely amazing. It’s ludicrously thin (again, crucial for me), sexy, and powerful. It’s a phone I can be proud to set on the table at a restaurant. (You didn’t think I’d leave it in my pocket, did you?) Moreover, I can really appreciate most of its features. The ability to carry around all of my photos (with a screen that can actually show them off), so that I can instantly show somebody pictures of my dog or makeshift raft? Brilliant. Built-in Google Maps with satellite images? Where were you when I got lost in downtown Dallas back in January? A really real web browser so I can look up inane facts on the go? Truly a blessing.
Admittedly there are some features I’m less concerned with. Visual Voicemail? I realize this is incredibly beneficial feature for some people, but I average substantially fewer than one voicemail per month. It’s a non-issue for me. Email? This one is so-so. I more or less never email anybody, and only my grandmother emails me. As a tool for person-to-person communication, email is totally irrelevant to my life, but I do still get plenty of emails I want. If someone sends me a message on MySpace (a site which while I mostly hate, I still, of course, use), I get an email notification. Invariably, I could get by with waiting until I got home to see the message; unlike some people I don’t go through MySpace withdrawals after half and hour. However, if I’m bored, I can see myself checking my email.
And then there’s text messaging. A few years ago, texting was already big in the rest of the developed world, but hadn’t really caught on here in the US. I was really into the idea of it, but I didn’t really have anybody to text with, because none of my friends were into it yet. I had AT&T Wireless back then, and text messages were free to receive and 10 cents to send. I signed up for text alerts from Yahoo! and stayed on top of breaking news throughout the day. But then Cingular bought AT&T Wireless. When I upgraded to a new phone and signed a new contract, I lost those free incoming texts. Every message cost 10 cents, or you could buy a text plan. In the end, I basically just gave up on texting. What can I say? I’m (selectively) cheap.
Things are different now. My friends and coworkers text like crazy. I participate only lightly, a few messages here and there. At the new 15 cent rate, I still average less than $1 a month on texts. But I’m ready for a change. Just as I’m resigned to carrying a phone in my pocket everywhere I go (except for while at work), I’m already resigned to paying substantially more every month for my cell phone bill. If I’m going to get a fancy phone with great support for texting and the internet, then I’m going to use it; damn the cost.
And back to my obsession. I talk about the iPhone constantly. Every single day. I listen for the slightest hint of a rumor about a new feature, service pricing, and the launch day. Everybody I know knows that I want one and plan on getting it the morning it comes out. A few days ago the month changed to June. “Do you know what month it is?” I asked people. “Um, June.” “Do you know what comes out later this month?” “Oh yeah, that phone you keep talking about.” It’s almost verbatim.
Steve Jobs’ Macworld keynote, in which he introduced the iPhone was not made available as a live, streaming video, but I followed along at two sites that had live updates with quotes, facts, and pictures. Then, a short while later, the video was put online. I downloaded it and have watched it again and again, sometimes just looking at my favorite parts. Surely this can’t be healthy, but I just want it so badly. The wait is killing me.
Finally, this evening, a new revelation: June 29. Apple finally announced a launch day, and they did it with three new TV ads, all of which are good, and two of which I really like a lot. I’m not so much into the calamari ad, probably in large part because I don’t eat seafood. “Never Been an iPod” is the best one, I think. I like the flow; it makes me not want the ad to end (that, and the pleasant music, used in all three).
And so ends what is unfortunately merely a partial exposition as to the extent of my iPhone obsession.