08.06.11wed
One Month Sans iPhone
If you don’t follow Apple news much, or even watch your local news channel, you may not be aware that Apple introduced some new software updates as well as some new hardware updates to the iPhone on Monday. The software updates will automatically be on every iPhone on July 11th. However, if you want the two hardware updates, you’re going to have to buy a new phone. The kicker is, the new phone only runs $200.
The new hardware includes 3G support, which is a different cell-based Internet connection... more than twice as fast as the current Edge connection I have. The other update is a built-in GPS. While I argued early on that the iPhone didn’t need a GPS, now that the phone has it... I need the GPS!
For about 30 minutes following the announcement, I pondered how I can sell my current – now outdated – iPhone for any reasonable amount of money. Why would anyone want the old version if the new version is available for only 200 bucks?
The solution? eBay!
I carefully considered my auction price. If I can’t sell it for close to the new phone price, I will just hang on to my outdated iPhone. After all, pointed out that the 3G and GPS were not that fantastic. And I agreed, I could probably live without those two features for a little while. I need to get at least $180 to go towards the new model, so I made that my starting bid. But I also need the phone to sell fast before thousands of other people put their phones online. So I added a buy-it-now price of $230... which covers the new cost plus sales tax.
At 3:37pm I listed my iPhone. At 3:38pm I got the confirmation email that the phone sold for my buy-it-now price. I had my phone sold before the office nags could come by and harass me for having the outdated model.
Craig mentioned to me the next day that when he went on eBay to consider selling his, there were about 4,000 iPhones listed with $130 starting bids.
Today I am clearing out my personal data, pulling out the original box and packaging materials (yes, I keep all my original boxes and packing materials), and I’m shipping the phone off to New York. Today starts a month long journey of life with no iPhone. I’m deeply saddened. It will be a long month.
