August 9, 2008
iTrendy
I finally joined the elite ranks of “Everyone Else” on Wednesday when I became the proud owner of a 16GB 3G iPhone. My amazing parents were gracious enough to buy it for me for my upcoming 25th birthday.
I took an early lunch to try to beat the crowds – and good thing too. When I walked up, there were only 3 people in front of me. When I left just shy of an hour later, there were several dozen people in line. The fact that Apple has made a product that is so coveted that people are still scrambling to wait in line for the opportunity to emphatically throw $300 at the feet of Steve Jobs and another $100 a month to AT&T for the next stage of life has to be making several Apple executives sleep very, very soundly these days.
All that aside, the whole purchasing experience was a conflicting, humbling one. Apple has long been seen as the trendy choice for young 20-somethings with hip jobs like web or graphic design, who spend their afternoons at Starbucks on their Macs, listening to Coldplay and Dave Matthews Band on their iPods. Oh, by the way, that’s me.
As I walked into the Apple store that fateful Wednesday morning, it hit me even more how much I had whored myself out to the trends. There I was in my faded jeans, indie band t-shirt and green canvas conductor hat, messenger bag comfortably slung over my shoulder, walking into the Apple store to buy an iPhone. Yep. I was that guy. And I hadn’t even planned on going to the Apple store that day; I’d just woken up and dressed like any other day.
Damn it, I really am that guy.
Ahh, who’m I kidding? I love being that guy. Like they say, if the shoe fits… they’re good shoes? you should buy them? they were made for a foot very similar to yours? Come to think of it, how does that saying even end? Has anyone even ever finished that sentence? I’m going to go with “If the shoe fits, I hope its match is nearby, or else you’ll be walking with a slight limp.”
Alright, this has just turned into one of my rambling, incoherent posts. Time to wrap it up. I’m the trendy, young, Apple-loving, web-designing guy that you’re parents warned you about, and I’m fine with that. It’s who I am. Apple’s products are incredible. So what? I like the way these jeans fit me, and that hat is super-comfy and saves me the trouble of having to do anything with my hair. Boo ya. The iPhone is possibly the most well-conceived, sleek and powerful consumer electronic product on the market today. And I’ve got one. Is it my fault if my tastes are shared by the majority of a particular demographic?
That demographic being “everyone else.”
you’re right. my parent’s did warn me about guys like you. guys that say “i like the way these jeans fit me”
I like this post Caleb. Very nice.
I’ve been thinking about getting an iPhone, too, even though I’ve said for the last while that I hate them and I can’t stand how people are so addicted to them. The problem is, I’m not that girl. I’m the girl who accidentally pushes voice recognition on her phone and now every time she says, “Oh crap!” it calls her dad.
I don’t belong anywhere near an iPhone.
“… Wear it.” That’s how the saying goes. Which seems appropriate, given the situation. Wear that indie-music-Apple-loving-messenger-bag-toting-hipster shoe proudly.