Letter from the CEO

iPhonomics or Status Symbol?

by Robert Pritchett

Did Steve Gillmor coin the term “iPhonomics”? http://gesturelab.com/?p=82

Did Dan Farber spread the iPhonomics Gospel? http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=5301

Has Krishnan’s Krishwords gone too far? http://www.krishworld.com/blog/mobile/iphonomics/

Who will be the first to provide a definition of iPhonomics on Wikipedia?

With Apple shares going through the roof because of the hyperhype over the iPhone, the whole series dedicated to it by Daniel Eran at Roughly Drafted – http://www.roughlydrafted.com and folks taking outrageous jabs at Apple saying that the opportunity costs are too high for buying an iPhone, and some folks having way too much fun writing and singing about it - http://www.surfbits.com/?p=1211 what are we to believe? Everything that comes from Apple is a godsend? As an Authorized Apple Professional and reseller, I still do not have permission to sell the device – and because I am not a direct employee of Apple, I will not get one as part of my “employment” either.

Others have had even more fun doing research on alternatives to the ?iPhone such as Scott Gilbertson - http://www.wired.com/software/coolapps/news/2007/07/iphone and MarketCircle with their iPhoney web simulator - http://www.marketcircle.com/iphoney/ and those who would aspire to being the next ?iPhone millionaire - http://applephoneshow.com/ and http://barcamp.org/iPhoneDevCampApps with their iPhone apps.

Okay, let me take a stab at it – iPhonomics are all the costs associated with using an iPhone. It is more than just the rate plans over 2 years plus the cost of the device itself - http://www.apple.com/iphone/easysetup/rateplans.html This electronic unit is the center of the peer-pressure and the coolness factor – it is an instant status symbol. I really believe it is like the way girls will go out with guys who have cool cars. (If you can afford an iPhone, you may be able to support me for life and help raise our future children.)

And all those folks who figured they’d get extra iPhones to sell on eBay were sadly disappointed when Apple flooded the marketplace with the unit. Talk about lost opportunity!

So when engineering development costs are amortized and the unit come down and the other telephony carriers can get a piece of the action besides AT&T, we will see iPhone 2 or by then maybe iPhone 3 and I can afford one. Now if I had put all my money into Apple stock a few years ago when I told everyone to buy it, I could afford one today – warts and all.

We have a new class structure – those who can afford an iPhone – and those who cannot. And that is what iPhonomics is really all about.

Perhaps one of the best discussions surrounding iPhonomics may be the Mac Roundtable podcast of 2007.07.16 - http://www.macroundtable.com/

We also were given permission to reprint Terry White’s iPhone review in this issue of macCompanion.

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