Boomerang

I don’t have an iPhone, and although I envy the people who do, I don’t have near-term plans to acquire one.  My friends regularly testify about how wonderful it is. “Get it for the touch screen,” they coo.  “The REAL Internet – Google Maps, New York Times, YouTube – all on your phone!” they exclaim.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m no Luddite – I love gadgets and gizmos and spend a substantial portion of my income on them.  I’m also not one of those people with a bizarre vendetta against Steve Jobs over the backdating thing.  In fact, I’ve been a happy Mac driver since 1999.

Here’s the thing:  I want the iPhone to be better.  I want at least one year’s worth of collective genius geek wisdom poured into this thing.  I want even more battery life.  I want it to operate on any carrier network without the hack this kid traded for a very fast car.  Of course, I also want it to do my taxes, vacuum my apartment and cook a pot roast.  Not going happen, I know.

Some things get better with age.  Sam at FL250 reminds us that an “old aviation axiom says: ‘Never fly the ‘A’ model of anything!’”  It is for this reason that I’ve held off in buying an iPhone despite the fact that I’ve purchased other first model year items like the original Sony Walkman – bought with money earned mowing/shoveling/raking about a hundred acres of suburban New York.  I’ve also been an early adopter of Internet services like now-defunct greats Webvan and Kozmo.com.   

Dan Nystedt at IDG tells us that “more than 2,700 companies will be jostling to show off their wares at CES” in Las Vegas this week.  Combine that tech orgy with Macworld, Demo, CTIA, and myriad events throughout the year and there will be plenty of shiny, sexy new things to covet.  I can’t wait to have to make those wonderful choices.

(PHOTO CREDIT: LAS VEGAS NEWS BUREAU)