The Vendors in the Tourist Shopping District in Mexico are very
honest. I think the Mexican people in general are very honest. A
Vendor in the Tourist Shopping District in Mexico is going to get as
much money from you for his/her product as possible regardless
of its real value or cost of production. There is no 6% over
cost going on. And you, are trying to get their product, below
cost, for less than its actual value, "almost free". When you
lose, it's the Mexican's fault. Baloney. You lost, they won, boo
hoo.
In the Tourist Shopping District of America the Vendors
are not so honest. The $29.99 blouse thats %50 off "today only" was
$29.99 yesterday and will be $29.99 tomorrow. Punto finale.
AT&T sent me an email saying my contract was up and to
show their appreciation they'd like their valued
customer to have an iPhone, retail price $549, almost
free. Of course when I called to do that they were out of the $99
one and I had to buy the $199 one. At least they were honest.
Actually AT&T offered everyone on the planet an iPhone at $99,
as long as you weren't already a valued customer. Valued customers
were herded onto the elevator to the $199th Floor.
I really didn't want an iPhone exactly. I wanted any
screen big enough to read email and see web pages and the
iPhone has that. I also wanted my email to come right
away. The iPhone has that too, so does Blackberry, so it
comes back to screen size. But you know, I honestly like the
iPhone. I'll explain why but first let me tell you I got bargain on
that thing. It was almost free*.
There are people that report on what it costs to make
things and guess what? The iPhone costs $172 and change to make.
Yep. That's right. They make their money on the stuff you
buy to go with it (Want fries with that?). I only paid
$199. The mark-up is like the tip on a meal.
Still, no reason to buy something you can't use.
The iPhone has value as a business tool. It has phone,
email, text, calendar, internet, voice notes recorder, alarm clocks,
and maps, it can do work things. Instead of
getting off the train with a stack of
To-Do's and emails, I'm good to go.
I access client computers in far away places from
wherever I happen to be. Granted its a little screen
and tap-tap keyboard but it's right here, right now,
not when I get to a computer or WiFi Hotspot.
The iPhone has toys too. Who cares, not me, it's a work tool.
Punto finale. But you could listen to music on it, watch a movie,
text your loved ones, take pictures of your new tattoo, video
your Golf swing, or surf the web. Whatever. If that's not
enough to make you totally unproductive, you can download
applications (Apps) do to all sorts of stuff.
Just take out an iPhone in public and you'll get
recommendations on what Apps to get. Just the other day a woman
seated next to me in a dreary Board Meeting saw me deleting emails
and showed me a better way, then recommended USA Today to replace my
ABC News App. Its the "iPhone Effect". Urban
Dictionary defines it as follows:
"Shortly after one person in the group brings out their iPhone,
the rest follow suit, ultimately ending all conversation and eye
contact."
One guy, call him Mike (not his real name, maybe), has an App
that lets you watch any basketball game on earth live. And if that's
not cool enough it lets you toggle between the local Sports Radio
coverage of the Home and Away teams. 99 cents, almost free, and
it's yours.
There's also the status associated with the iPhone. Why?
Its not like you have to be rich to get one. My Palm Treo
and subsequent Centro cost way more, and you had to type with a
stick, and the screens were too small, and they
didn't work that well. Fortunately all the other cool
people had them too and nobody was going to admit how bad
they were/are. Again there's the iPhone Effect. Urban Dictionary
continues:
"It's the feeling you get when you buy an
iPhone and you suddenly feel as though you are the coolest person on
the planet because you have a PHONE with an "i" in front of it. It's
nothing to be ashamed of. It happens to every iDouche especially if
it's their first iDevice. Typically the iDouche grows up and out of
the phase. Sometimes not..."
Urban Dictionary uses bad words and is snippy
sometimes. If they have offended you I apologize. I contacted them
concerning this and was told to go to Helen Waite. Snippy, those
guys.
For all it's functionality, friviolity, and
popularity, the iPhone is not the Swiss Army Knife. The good people
at Apple forgot to include a Bottle Openner. But, if you put the
bottom of the iPhone up under the edge of the bottle's cap, and
strike the other end of the iPhone sharply with the heel of your
hand in an upward motion you can open a beer. You could also
buy domestic, twist-offs, or cans.
iPhone, Swiss Army, imports or
domestics, it's your call, and that's Cocktail
Talk.
