Credit: Flickr by Paul Ordoveza
A line of people with sleeping bags, cots and foldable chairs camped outside on the streets in NYC streets last week. No they were not homeless. They voluntarily decided to give up the comforts of their own beds to sleep out on the streets for the privilege to pay good money to buy the Apple iPhone 5s. At 8:00 a.m, right when the Apple Store was to open, there were 1,417 people waiting patiently for their turn to buy the coveted iPhone 5s in Midtown Manhattan. What is the big deal about getting the iPhone 5s on the first day? Even if you didn’t brave the elements to get this fancy little gadget, you’d be able to get it in a few days without having to camp outside.
I understand waiting in line for food during the Depression or in Soviet Russia. Food is a necessity. I can even get people waiting in line to get sought after tickets to a sporting event or concert, because the tickets are limited in supply and some believe that it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It is not something I would do, but I can understand it. But why wait in line for something that you can get in a few days, or gasp, a few weeks later!
Here’s the popular commercial of Applephiles waiting in line for the “next big thing” by Apple’s main competitor Samsung.
Early Adopters Pay a Premium
If you want to be the first person to own the newest model phone, camera, car, big-screen TV, or anything else, you’re going to pay a steep premium. I see all the people who are able to snag the latest iPhone immediately post pictures of their new phone on Facebook with many “Likes” and comments that include #JEALOUS, and statements of how lucky that person is. I just shake my head when I see these posts on FB…oops, I mean SMH. It’s as if they had accomplished something amazing or that they have a product that’s revolutionary.
My friend bought the original Kindle when it first came out. Sure, it sounded pretty cool. The text looked like you were reading a book and you could carry a ton of books in a small device. He paid $399 which was the original price. The first generation Kindle sold out in 5 1/2 hours. It was pretty cool, but not $399 cool. I bought a newer generation Kindle for my wife as a Christmas gift for $60 a few years ago. For the $399 price tag, I’ll stick with books.
Be Patient
I’m not an Apple hater as you might think from the introduction to this post. As a matter of fact, I was very excited when the iPhone 5 came out last year. I was happy because that meant the price of the iPhone 4s would drop and I was able to buy it for $99 instead of $199. It is my first smartphone as I was fine with a regular flip phone. But I’ll admit that it does have pretty cool functions.
Another benefit of being patient with a purchase rather than impulsively spending is that often times, you realize you didn’t really want or need that product. I remember when the PlayStation 3 came out and it was the first console that included Blu-ray disc as its primary storage medium. I tried to convince myself that it was a good purchase because I’d get a console and a Blu-ray player at the same time. But after a while, the excitement of the idea wore off and I never purchased it. It was a pretty busy time in my life and I probably wouldn’t have been able to use it much and it would gather dust like some other things I’ve bought that seemed exciting.
Do you have to get the latest tech gadget when it first comes out?
We are way behind the curve on smart phone technology. Like you, we only recently got our first smartphones within the last year (and the real reason was to move to a new carrier, PTel, to lower the monthly bill down to $10/mo/phone). You noted the real upside of the strategy: we can buy of the trail end of used/outdated products, pay less, and still be perfectly fine with the tech. Thank God for the early adopters: they make our strategy possible.
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Absolutely, you can get great and affordable products that are slightly “outdated” and when “outdated” is 1 year old…it really isn’t! Each new iPhone is not a revolutionary product. Sure there maybe some cool new features, but not worth it to pay a premium.
People get excited about things that depreciate like cars and technology. You are right about early adopters paying a premium. I have an android phone that is a year and a half old that was part of a buy one get one free promo.
I know…people should get excited about things that appreciate in value not the other way around.
I’m excited to get the iphon 5s..eventually. I definitely don’t feel the need to get up early and wait in line with hundreds of peole. A few extra day, weeks, or even months won’t kill me.
That’s right…I really don’t see the point in being the first one to get it. Just wait a little bit and get it later…probably for a discounted price.
I never go out and buy a brand new product, no matter what it is. I figure someone else can pay for the inevitable bugs in the early versions and the massive R&D costs the company passes along in that big price tag!
Just wait six months and the price will be slashed — it really shouldn’t be that difficult.
The worst though is when people toss a perfectly functional phone/gadget for one of these new ones that maybe has a few new minor features. That just is perfectly typical of our culture though…
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Good point about the inevitable bugs. That’s another reason I don’t like to be the first one to get the product, they have to work out the bugs. You’re right about the culture here…they are constantly looking to upgrade to something new. I guess that’s why so many people are in debt.
I definitely do not care about getting the latest gadgets ASAP. I HATE lines so I would never wait in one 🙂
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Me too…I hate lines. I don’t even like waiting in line at the store when there are a couple of people there. I am definitely not sleeping overnight on line!
I never ever get gadgets brand new. I rarely even get gadgets at all. My phone is pretty old school. I did actually just get a new Republic Wireless phone but it’s not fancy and the only reason I got it was for the 19/month plan.
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Yea I’m always tempted to get gadgets, but the ones I’ve gotten, I don’t really use all that much. I will have to admit that I do use the iPhone pretty often though. But I don’t need the latest one.
Ugh man I have this buddy…Doctor, smart and comes from cash. Whenever the last iPhone came out – I think the 4S this guy not only spent hours on line, he paid a shit ton extra to get AT&T to give him a lesser price than off contract but still more than the $200 price tag. I wanted to hit him
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I have a friend who always has to get the latest iPhone also. He pays to break the contract or just pays for the phone without the contract subsidy. He doesn’t spend hours on line though. He pre-orders the phone although I think they didn’t allow that this time.
So ridiculous to wait when you can get the phone in 2 weeks with no wait.
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That is exactly my approach, I am patient and I reap on the benefits. I am extremely happy, actually, when a company is announcing a new product: this means that the older ones will get discounted. And for mobile phones who are released so soon one after the other, there’s no big improvement in terms of performance. When the Samsung Galaxy S3 was launched I decided it’s time to enter the smartphone world and I bought a Galaxy S2. Even though now there’s the S4 available, I am still using my first smartphone and no new apps (games, mostly) that I tried lag or stutter. And as long as I will be satisfied with the product, I’ll keep it. When I will need a new one, I won’t buy the just-launched thing because it is too expensive. Not to mention that in some cases, day one releases have bugs and problems that can drive you crazy.
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Yea I’m all for getting the discounted model where the bugs are all worked out and the price drops because a new model comes out (which has a few new features but is ultimately the same). I got the Google Nexus when the new one came out. It was a lot cheaper and I got a coupon plus rewards points from Staples. Great deal. Although I kind of regret it now because I really don’t need a tablet.
I have a smart phone it is not the latest gadget like IPhone 5s or Samsung but for me it’s very useful. BUT I can check emails, can connect to social media and download latest applications.
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There’s nothing wrong with not having the latest gadget. It still does the job! No need to pay a premium.
I think you’re spot on with the technology stuff. It all moves so fast that even if you get the latest and greatest today, it will be surpassed within a couple of months anyways. If you have the money and this stuff really excites you, then fine, that’s cool. But if you’re just doing it because everyone else is then it’s a problem.
On a side note, my freshman year of college I camped out for tickets to a single basketball game for 2 months. Now, granted, we weren’t in line for that entire time. We had a group of 12 and 2 of us had to be there at all times (it was very organized). But it was a really fun experience and the game itself was great. But that was really a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing.
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Give credit to the marketers who create such frenzies! I’m in complete agreement with you though. You might get a little extra temporary excitement by being among the first to get a new release, but that’s fleeting and, when all is said and done, likely not worth the extra cost involved. I honestly don’t ever get caught up the hype. In fact, I’d classify myself as an extremely slow adapter (if I even adapt at all!).
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I almost never buy the first version of anything. Too risky and expensive for me. I wait as long as I can stand it, in most cases as you’ll recall from my saga of my quest for a lower cell phone bill: http://pretired.org/saving-money/my-quest-for-a-lower-cell-phone-bill/
One interesting factoid I heard a few years ago, though, is that many so-called “early-adopters” are actually people who leap-frogged one or more prior generations of a product. They appear to be cutting-edge, but really had delayed the purchase until the newest one came out.
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I would not make that sacrifice just to be part of the “first owners” of some new gardget or whatever item. If I can get something for a good deal that I would do.
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Yep, it’s just not worth it!
What?! An iPhone 5s is out? Already? I can’t even keep up with all these new models coming out every year, let alone queuing for hours and spending a small fortune to be one of the first people to get it. No, thanks. I am not that big of a technology fan. I’m totally okay with my iPhone 4 (hey, yours is fancier than mine! :P) and I got it 6 months ago for like £200-something pounds (which sounds a lot to me now!) when an iPhone 5 was out too.
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Haha…yea I think the 4s is when Siri came out! It’s kind of one reason I wanted it because I don’t want to text/call while driving and Siri can do it for me if my wife calls or something like that. But for the most part, newer models are drastically different! My mother in law got the iPhone 3 for free when the iPhone 5 was out!
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