iPhone Watch:Apple's Non-Event?

Last year, around about this time, Apple was launching the magical new iPhone for the first time, and eager early adopters were already snaking around the GM Building for a 24- hour camp-out in hopes of being the very first to get their hands on the coveted gadget.
One year later, and a newer, better, faster, cheaper iPhone Will be available in a mere 14 hours (8 AM Friday the 11th). The news just told us that people are already waiting outside the store, and the line is... well... where is the line?
Oh yeah, there's a few people there, and the iDiots (yes, we have no compunctions about calling them iDiots) have been there nearly all week. While Apple has been furiously preparing for throngs of ravenous shoppers, people may have remembered that even on last year's launch day, you could buy the very same iPhone at an AT&T store after less than an hour's wait. No camp-out necessary.
Down at the Apple Store in SoHo, there appeared to be a "line" of two people, until we realized that one of them was a journalist interviewing the other, no doubt inquiring why he had chosen to make such a spectacularly poor use of his time.
Why the lack of frenzy?
For starters, the iPhone is not so new anymore, it's just improved. It's cheaper, but probably not if you already have one. The $199-299 price range is only in effect if you are starting a new AT&T account or at the end of your service contract and eligible for an upgrade. If you bought an iPhone a year ago, you are probably in the middle of your contract with AT&T, and would have to pay about twice as much for the new handset. In fact if you have any service with AT&T, the sole iPhone provider in the US, you still need to be eligible for the upgrade to get the subsidized price. That means we won't even think about buying one until December at the earliest.
There's no home activation this time, so anyone who purchases the new version will have to activate it in store by either setting up a new account or converting a current AT&T account to the new device. This is meant to discourage the rampant unlocking that happened with the first phone and Apple hopes to expedite the process with mobile checkout. By the same token, there is no internet ordering either.
We're not really worried that Apple's going to take a bath on this thing. It's certainly going to be our next phone, but the sense of urgency is gone, and of they're going to upgrade this thing every year, we might just wait until next July to get one.
Previously: It's iPhone Phriday! Meet the iDiots

Comments

[Brian Griffin]

Well, actually, if you have the first iPhone, AT&T didn't subsidize that one, so you *can* get the discount now. If you have some other AT&T phone you're out of luck.