What is our obsession with technology? I try so hard to understand it. I love my computer as well as my iPod – I even love my Blackberry. I adore my Husqvarna electronic sewing machine. But would I ever…EVER have slept outside a store in the rain to buy them? Um, no.
In the past, concert tickets, yes. But not for something that will be available AND cheaper in the months to come.

The iPhone on its release day was priced from $500.00 to $750.00 and this is a phone that’s based on slower, 2G, or second-generation, wireless phone technology with a limited memory of 4 or 8 gigabytes – far less than the 30 to 80 GB in full-size iPods. But – shiver – it seems there are people who will still camp outside a store to be the first to have one; is that what it’s about? Did they do their homework and find out what they’d be waiting for? Did they weigh the worth of trading their mattress for a lawn chair or bedroll on concrete for one night?

What is it exactly that would make people willing to do this? Owning the first even though it may be inferior to its successors? Already, word is out that there’s a major hurdle to overcome with the iPhone: e-mail. The way that Apple’s set up its e-mail servers is incompatible with many corporate systems. Therefore, users may not be able to access work e-mail. Companies could change policies if enough top execs became iPhone puppets, but for most of us, don’t hold your breath.

Alright, back to its assets, or lack thereof – it doesn’t do games, so you can rule that out. It does just about everything else, but not games.

Okay, so then use it as a phone…uhuh! Kind of a waste, isn’t it? You can’t type in names to quickly bring up someone from the contact list. Voicemail is listed with the caller’s name or number, sort of like e-mail. And the cheapest service plan costs $60 a month for 450 daytime minutes — relatively expensive, since you’re paying for unlimited data use. Getting 1,350 minutes costs $100 a month.

Okay, okay, so how about picture taking then? It has a 2-megapixel camera which isn’t bad. But phones that are designed for serious photo taking also record video and have higher resolutions. As an example, the new Nokia N95 has a 5-megapixel sensor and a Zeiss lens.

So, how about aiding the frequent flyer? Will this benefit him overseas then? Possibly, but it’s not really ideal for that either. Sure, it works overseas, but only at AT&T’s roaming rates. You’re better to have a world phone that has been “unlocked” by the carrier, so you have the option to use a local number and pay local rates.

Could it be entertainment then? I dunno about that either. Windows Mobile phones like the T-Mobile Wing already give you all that very nicely. And the recently released Blackberry, the Curve, plays music through a standard stereo headphone jack and has a built-in camera too.

So what is the attraction to sleeping on the street overnight in the rain, to pay $500.00 or more for something that you can buy 2 months from now on a sunny afternoon? Or after waiting for the glitches to be ironed out by others?

Cheaper than the others? Nope! It’s sure not that either. This first-generation iPhone is likely to be followed by something much better. One that’ll use a faster cellular broadband network and have more memory. Why didn’t buyers wait for Apple’s inevitable upgraded iPhone, which will smack the current model to $299 or so? Yeah, maybe this first iPhone will be upgradeable, but would still require a trip back to the Apple store to get it done.

Please help me understand if you were one of those that did that the night before the release of the iPhone. It’s almost frightening to see the lack of individual thought anymore. Like watching electronic brain control. Announce on television that a new gadget or gizmo is going on sale at a particular date and time and it draws humans to spend their money on it like a magnet. They even had a group in San Francisco called “Over Here, Jerks!” ready to release a wild animal or do some other stunts that caused lines of iPhone buyers to disperse. The plan was to have everybody in line run away, except for the company’s client, who’ll be first up for service.

Alright, so this was San Francisco, but still. Not any sillier really than what all these people are doing in front of the stores, is it?