| 23 October 2008
There are now more registered mobile phones than people in Australia. Stephen Murphy considers what your phone says about your personality, state of mind, status and skill level.
Due to some recent complications – my phone decided to go for a swim – I regressed to a phone that has lived in the back of my office drawer for a number of years, probably at least eight. It is a Sony Ericsson and it looks like it has been dragged behind a ute. However, it still worked so I saw no problem in using it. However, the phone did not receive a positive response. You would think that in this day and age of carbon footprint reduction and recycling I would be rewarded for such re-use, but no.
I couldn’t see the big deal, but it really got me thinking. Are we truly judged by the phone we use in the same way people judge us by what car we drive? Does your phone choice reflect your personality, skill level and ability?
My father-in-law, who is in his 70s, had one of the first iPhones in Australia. He impressed me no end with the lightning speed he could find the answer to any social query at a family dinner. Very impressive for the old silver fox .
My workaholic partner chooses a BlackBerry (which I often call the ‘NerdBerry’) and she is nothing short of obsessed with it. I can’t understand why. It beeps and chimes incessantly – emails, alerts, reminders. I guess it makes her feel important and loved. Trying to pry that device out of her hand is like attempting a candy heist from a baby: not pretty.
I am like a creature from the land of giants when I attempt to operate the nimble BlackBerry keys. And it would potentially drive me nuts on the golf course. So is the iPhone the answer for me?
The first release of the iPhone in the US took a beating with too many missing standard features such as voice dialling, video recording and good old copy and paste.
One of my golden rules is never buy the first generation of any new product line; this goes for cars, plasma screens and even phones. We in Australia fortunately missed the 8GB iPhone. And while the 16GB is currently running out the doors fast enough to cause a sonic boom, it might it be worth waiting for Christmas when the 32GB version, with all the added features described above, will finally be onboard.
One of the most exciting aspects is of course the recently opened iPhone App Store. The store will soon be stocked with thousands of free-to-cheap third-party programs that can be pulled directly onto the phone. If you believe iPhone’s sales projections in the coming years, App Store could match or rival iTunes as a revenue stream down the road.
Hype?
Hundreds of thousands of developers have downloaded iPhone’s software developer’s kit so far, and with hundreds of millions of iPhone users five years from now (again, if you believe the sales hype), the App Store could be a very busy place indeed. My suggestions for most unexpectedly popular applications: games that take advantage of the iPhone’s tilt sensitivity and multitouch screen.
Well that’s sold me, but can I handle the social stigma and continue using this Sony Ericson till Christmas? We’ll see.
Stephen Murphy is Director at payperclick.net.au.
