One iPhone on Display!

Probably the biggest let down for many Macworld attendees this year is there is no new Apple products or software to buy and take home this week. Oh I’m sure pre-orders for the Apple TV and iPhone will be a plenty this week and in the coming months, but part of the perks of attending Macworld is that you can get your hands on an Apple products right after the keynote. But nada. Not this year. You’re going to have to wait until February and June, respectively, to get your hands on the Apple TV and iPhone. And even then, the question will be, do you really want to shell out the bucks for these consumer products? 

As for me, I’ll wait and spend my money for iLife upgrades and perhaps another investment in a piece of Apple pro creative software that will actually help make me money rather than just empty my pockets. $499 for an iPhone? I don’t think so. Swept away by Steve Job’s demo, I left the presentation thinking about just how fun and useful the iPhone would be. But then I thought about how much better it would be to use that same money to purchase a new piece of camera equipment or even a copy of Final Cut Express. Or just using four hundred bucks for some upgrades to my current computers would probably be better in the long run. 

Personally, I think I can wait for an iPhone just like I waited a few years to get my first iPod—a cheaper and much improved 4th generation iPod!

So while these Macworld attendees stood in awe watching Apple’s only display of the iPhone, I simply snapped this picture and shook my head. The iPhone may indeed be a break through, but it won’t do for cell phone connectivity what the iPod has done for the way we listen to music. At least not with this first generation. So my suggestion for the iPhone: be patient and wait and spend your money more wisely.