The Charm of iPhone

Recently I got a request from a friend in Taiwan asking me if I can get an iPhone for her. Since I already heard so many people in Asia talking about it, naturally, I thought it's released in Asia, but apparently not yet.

So I talked to another friend who's in Taiwan and already owned an iPhone about his experiences. Obviously he got it from some acquaintances too, and spent similar amount of money as buying it here -- compare to original price + sales tax, he spent only 10-20USD more. It's a good deal if you're getting something like this from the US back to Taiwan.

I have to admit, iPhone is pretty cute and handy, I would like to have one too, but only if i can pay $99 to get one. I guess it's probably because I am not working in the IT related field, therefore I am not that a big fan of high tech gadgets. Or my natural-born stinginess is stopping me from getting anything that's depreciating.

More likely, I am brain-washed by the stoneaged moblie phones in the US (comapring to Europe and Asia) and didn't feel the need of getting something really cool. No, I don't think I am too old for cool things, I am just have different thoughts, I like stuff that can create more physical values.

My friend who already owned the iPhone told me that it's actually pretty slow comparing to his other 3G phone. Honestly, I think 3G phone is cooler and faster, it should be more useful than iPhone (that's another evidence to prove US cellphones are in stoneage, iPhone doesn't have 3G). But iPhone has very nice interface and sleek design, that's why people love it, even though it's still slow in Asian standard.

This statement triggers another thought: if it's not that great, why would you spend that much amount of money on it? Sorry my friend, I am not doubting your decision, it's just because I live in a stoneage place, I don't see many cool phones around, therefore I haven't felt the need to have a really nice one. I know if I am in Taiwan, I might want to get a super cool phone too. Here, I have no one to compare with, so there's really no need to get something like that. Plus, everyone I know that owns an iPhone or Smartphone or Blackberry, couldn't help themselves but checking work emails anytime anywhere they can, it's like being haunted. It's of course very convenient, but sometimes I really just want to have a nice face-to-face conversation with them, so, please stop playing your cellphones!

Finally, I read lots news about Taiwan's living expense going up fast but the salary isn't, and lots people complaining life is tough. Well, with average $1000-2000/month (before tax), and many people spending $400+ on each cellphone, maybe the newspaper is a bit exaggerating.