On iPhones and avocados

It's Sunday at 6, and the iPhone has been on sale for 48 hours. And I have one. How the hell did that happen?

Let's face it, I'm a sucker for good marketing.

A few years ago a bunch of California avocado growers decided that not enough people were trying their fine product and they launched a television, radio, and billboard campaign for avocados. I didn't fall for it because I knew I didn't like avocados. Of course I didn't. They had a funny texture and were puke green and weird. I didn't want one.

Well after who-knows-how-many years of good marketing, I decided that maybe I wasn't giving avocados a fair shake. I should at least try one, right? So I ordered one with a taco salad. And it was awesome! Who knew how good they were? Why had I avoided them for so long? And they go with everything--salads, burgers, tacos, everything. I've even gotten to the point where I make my own guacamole when the mood strikes me. Avocados Are Awesome.

Yes, I am a sucker for good marketing.

So imagine how easy it was to fall for the iPhone way back in January. I watched Steve Jobs' keynote presentation and just drooled. I knew then that I wanted one, but it was so expensive! And my Verizon plan wasn't going to be up until mid-August.

Then came the video "users' manuals" posted on Apple a few weeks ago, as well as some beautiful ads along with it. Then this week a slew of tech reviews came out and they were all pretty frankly stunned with the phone. So I really knew I wanted one, but I just couldn't justify it before my Verizon plan was up. So I was going to have to wait.

I was also concerned about what would happen if I dropped the iPhone (if you are curious about the same thing, check out the PCWorld stress tests they put the iPhone through).

Long story short, I was going to sit this craze out.

Until yesterday, when Mary and I happened to be in Southcenter and we thought, "Well, we should at least go see them since there probably won't be a line anymore." I swear to you, I really did not go in there thinking I was going to buy.

There were about 10 iPhones around a table right at the front of the store. Getting to the table was like approaching a full craps table. All around it were people smiling and shaking their heads in amazement and you had to weave through them to get close enough to grab an open iPhone when someone walked away. (Also like a craps table, most of the people in the Apple Store probably didn't realize how likely they were to drop a good deal of money before they left.)

15 minutes playing with an iPhone was horribly horribly convincing. Sure good marketing got me in the door. But if the avocado hadn't been so awesome, I wouldn't have kept eating them ... well, the same goes for the iPhone.

15 minutes. That's all it took. Then a cool down period involving a visit to the Verizon store to find out what canceling my contract would cost, and then drafting budget figures on the back of an envelope over lunch at Johnny Rocket's while I tried to figure out how I could afford it.

On the way back to the store to check out the phone again I tried calling my parents and my 1.75-year old cell phone did the annoying thing it's been doing for the past two months--the speakers died and I had to turn it off and restart the phone. If there had been any doubt, it was erased with that reboot.

And now I have an iPhone. It's been about 28 hours or so since I got it. I love it. It really is awesome. It's easy, it's fun, it's beautiful to look at, and it's very comfortable in my pocket. I'm smitten.

If you think you'd like an iPhone but are on the fence, then stay away from them. They may be flat, and they may only have one button, but they have deep hooks. Deep deep hooks. Be warned.