Well, I've held out for so darn long, guiltily proud of the fact that I didn't NEED an iPhone.
...and me, a dyed in the wool Apple fanboy from waaaaaayyyyyyyy back (er, 1986!)
In recent years I've found it much harder to justify spending money on gadgets, and updating a phone when the one I have in my pocket is in perfectly good working order (and it fits easily in my pocket!) It is smaller than an iPhone, the battery lasts longer and if I was crazy enough to let e-mail rule my life, I can check my e-mail on it. It uses the same Nokia Symbian OS I've had my phones since 2003 so upgrading is never an issue and transferring data is no longer life-alteringly stressful.
I've asked may different groups of people at meetings, conferences and social events to justify spending nearly a grand on a phone! I wanted a business case for spending that sort of money as I never sign up for a 24 month plan that locks me in and charges horrendously expensive roaming fees when I go overseas.
They have failed to convince me, but not through want of trying.
Friends have shown me how marvellous the iPhone is and how they couldn't do without it - even tech geeks who swear they are open-source champions have locked themselves into the closed-system ecosphere of the iTunes Apps Store.
I've had a 'no' answer for every reason put forward so far. I've been shown fun games ("they're just time wasters"), GPS mapping ("I know where I am, and I can read a map"), Twitter from your phone ("I don't want to tell everybody I just stubbed my toe - seriously I've seen such a tweet!") quick access to e-mail anywhere (see above!).
Even cool cases with amazing designs that allow people to personalise them way beyond the norm have left me a little nonplussed. Being an industrial designer in a former life means that I hate cases and covers that hide the original design - I don't have car seat covers in my car for the same reason!
The list of wonders goes on and, until now, I have shot them all down.
Until now.
It seems that the iPhone phenomena has found my weakness.
No, it wasn't the quick access to e-mail, or the funny free "mouth organ" app. The games are no match for my desktop computer games - although I don't really have much time for them now either. I usually always know where I am can still read a map to get where I'm going.
No, the thing that sold me in the end; the thing I use the most and is - yes - a complete time-waster in most respects - is the Arsenal FC app.
With one click I have access to fixtures, news, the Premier League ladder and player profiles. I live half a world away from London football and I sometimes stay up to watch the Gunners live on satellite TV, or if a game is midweek I tape it and hope the results aren't on the radio news in the morning to spoil the illusion of it being live the following night.
The iPhone Arsenal Football Club application breaches the divide and dislocation I feel from the club. Until now I've only ever had glimpses of life over there.
It is hard to connect to the players as a fan in Australia, and the local game - while entertaining - is not English Premier League. Australia's best players play in EPL, Germany's Bundesliga, the Spanish Primera or the Italian Serie A. All over there in Europe.
Now I CAN enter the world of Arsenal from anywhere, at any time, and I do.
It is an indulgence, but it also is a great reason why the iPhone is a success. It is a content platform that has re-written the book. It's interface is not frightening and I haven't read the instructions - I've been shown how to use it by the many people I tried to ignore over the last 12 months!
Yes, I bought an iPhone last week and now I don't know why I even bothered to hold out with my Nokia. I don't NEED an iPhone, but I'm glad I bought one.
Which gives me another problem.
How to hold off loading the Arsenal site if I haven't watched the previous night's game yet?
Damn, I knew there was a reason I shouldn't have bought that iPhone :-(.
