FedUpInNYS- I'll bet you any amount that you own a cell phone and carry it on you every single day, and would panic if you lost or broke it.

Therefore, a new bad-ass cell phone coming out is a big deal to pretty much every single person that owns a cell phone.

Ugh ain't that the truth. Can't leave for lunch without work calling, or can't go anywhere without being found. Come back pagers, we miss you!!

Blake,

I have a cell phone and I couldn't care less about a new bad-ass cell phone coming out. The world has too many problems right now and this should not be front page news.

tontosh

Is this front page news?

I'm pretty sure it's just one little article buried in the Tech section of a news site. It's a whole 3 short paragraphs.

Should they put this article under "Health"?

A new product from the biggest tech company on the planet is news. It means tens to hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue in markets around the world. This will help solve some of those problems you were speaking about.

For example - many poor rural Chinese consider themselves LUCKY to be able to work in college-campus-like facilities that produce Apple (and other companies') products. For the first time in their life they may have running hot water and a toilet that flushes.

If that's not important to you, it's probably because you take these things for granted.

My cell phone cost $5 per month (that's five dollars) per month.

But as a gamer for many years (1982), I'd never waste my money on an Apple product anyway. They are always outdated.

Of course anything to do with electronics is outdated if you can purchase it in a store.

Ji(g), yea, that's why everyone and their mother is rushing to put out some sort of tablet to catch up to those pesky outdated iPads huh?

I'm with Fed-up, so what its just a phone. If I lose it I'll get another.

To all the "so what, it's just a phone" people - if this isn't news worthy to you, then why on earth are you reading the article? Even more, you commented on it! MSN knows which articles people click on to read (trackers) and the more people that click on a topic means the more they will report on it.

Dave, I clicked on it to leave my "So What" comment. Seems like a pretty simple deduction. A decision I made without the aid of SIRI. Imagine that...a free thinker!

In reality I think few people pay up the full retail price for new smart phones. The carrier subsidized price is $200, which is a lot easier to swallow. Also present is a growing availability of this particular phone now being offered across multiple services. Carriers raised the early termination fees partially in order to disincentivize ditching one for another just to buy the newer phone at the subsidized price.

You also have to remember that early adopters tend to be young, educated, urban, have no dependants, and are relatively high earners - this demo has no qualms about spending on gadgets.

Unfortunately I don't live with my parents and mortgage is a biatch, but if I did, i could totally afford it!

Since the first iPhone came out I've technically never paid for a new iPhone when I was ready for the next model. In fact, I've gotten them all for free and you'll see how after reading the rest of this post! At AT&T we get an early upgrade option after 12 months and can purchase new 16g iPhone for $200. A new iPhone comes out about once a year. I buy it for $200 with an early upgrade, renew my contract and sell my old iPhone on Ebay or Craigslist for more than $200 every time! The first iPhone I sold for just over $500 because people were able to unlock them and use them on different carriers. Then, jailbreaking was getting popular and so the next iPhones had value which I sold for around $275-$350. I'm eligible for an upgrade now so when the iPhone 5 comes out I'm sure it will be the same way as it alwyas has been in the past. So for me there's no alternate reality - LOL - Just the reality that used iPhones are worth good money and if a person does it just right, they can do the same thing I've been doing since iPhone #1.

I'm tellin on you

What's sad is that all the Asian countries already have technology on their devices like quad core phones and more, yet we are the last ones to get that...talk about not being on top of our game!

Considering the semi-conductor market and basically 99% of computer parts are made in Asia... I'd think they would be the first to have them hit the streets... when you find something electronic made in America let me know hahahah.

I can't imagine how you feel about Android then, seeing there is a new Android phone launched every other week - well over one hundred Android models have been created since 2008.

For my line of work in mobile development, it sucks that we have to get new hardware just to test out the apps before we release them. It's annoying and not really cost efficient. Corporate greed is all I can say...ugh, come on Nexus, at least that will be a phone for a few years

Yeah that does suck. But maybe it keeps you employed? :) Hope your company buys them at least.

No, it's not just you. I was thinking the same thing. A story announcing the announcement of the new iPhone. Hmm.

It kind of caught me by surprise, though. They probably should have announced earlier that today would be the day that they'd be announcing the announcement date of the iPhone. :-)

Sparky, I'm an apple fan and I STILL thought that was funny! Props!

Your definition of "techies" is such that it downgrades the definition of the word itself. So sad. Guys like you shouldn't be around in any IT environment where usability and stability are the two most important elements. Techies in my day would always subscribe to anything stable in all aspects (OS and peripheral devices included) to ensure unimpeded work flow and services. The time that would have wasted doodling around (as the "techies" like yourself do nowadays) was spent on more productive endeavors.

Stop pretending you're a "techie" when the only thing you can "accomplish" by using the backdoor technique is the same end result as you would have accomplished using the standard, acceptable approach - only with MORE time. And worse, more often than not you screw things up and find your users going for lengthly coffee and smoke breaks. And what happens next is you blame the manufacturer or the service provider.

I wonder if you are still employed.

Ok brofus surfer dude... tell me one company that is running apple servers or using apple databases. Last time I checked 99% of the market is using Oracle, SQL server, Unix, Linux, or Apache. Hell, even apple doesn't use their OS on the back-end if that tells you anything. Last I heard their OS X Lion Server was a complete piece of junk that doesn't even work...I'm speaking from an enterprise wide standpoint and Apple can't hold a candle to Microsoft in that aspect. Let me know how that Xserve system is working out for you.. haha what a joke. The only thing Mac OS are good for is desktops...period. When your designing a multi-million dollar server platform Apple is /FAIL.. stick to desktop support and doing IT grunt work... sounds like thats more of your speed.

I wonder if your head is still stuck in the sand brofus....

I am raking in good amount of cash building apps for iOS devices- something which I cannot do for Microsoft because MS folks buried their heads in the sand way too long now. Don't even ask me about Android. It's not a profitable proposition.

You might think that but everything you need is in your pocket. You can find a ATM, order prescriptions, find a gas station, if your lost it will show you where you are, and when your done you can call and order Chinese food. And text a loved one to let them know your on your way. Honestly they make your life more organized. Music, pictures, video, everything is in your pocket.

What an idiotic statement. For many years, Apple was the ONLY "choice" you could make if you didn't want a Winblows PC and weren't a *nix guru.

As for their app policy, I don't have time to validate very app I download - I'm happy that Apple takes that responsibility on for me. If you have the time and attention and interest in that, great for you. Most people don't want to spend their lives messing with their gadgets 24/7.

Woah woah woah, if that's the case, then we should be thanking Apple for all the people driving while texting, talking on the phone, walking without looking, all because they are looking at their phones or playing with their apps. If anything, this whole smartphone boom made everyone dumber. I mean come on, do you really need a phone to calculate a simplest math problems? Shoot can't even go to a bar without half the people whipping out their phones to play on facebook or text people.

Apple did the impossible...make a product that turns people insociable to every aspect of life.

Doberman74 has no clue what BenJames means by flexibility and customization or in this case Apple telling him what software he can and can't use. Who gives a @!$%# about the operating system when you're forced to use a Apple ceritified and sold product? From a developers stand point it's complete garbage. If I can design my own applications that work better, faster, and without the limitations of Apple then why can't I do that? Because Apple is a bunch of greedy asses that wants to force you into their bull@!$%# proprietary software/hardware. I guess all those apps like Crazy Birds are the difference huh hahahhaah. What a joke... stick to touch screens and button pushing sounds like thats more of your speed...

The iPhone is no exception to this.

Palm pilots were around a good long time before Apple "invented" the touchscreen phone

why do you think palm still has a patent lawsuit against Apple still going?

I disagree. Ten year old technology? Is this what their competitors are peddling, too? Originality is overrated in the tech industry, anyway.

Anyone who adores Apple for their originality is certainly deluded.. however, the reason Apple products are so well-liked is because they offer a better user experience than the competition. Full stop.

Oh theres a difference, ours have shiny plastic and 5 year old hardware inside!

Who needs all the apps?

Well, for starters I can check tv listings and queue my home DVR from anywhere. I can use my phone as a remote control and jukebox for my home stereo and car stereo wirelessly. I can identify music heard on the radio and purchase a copy, should I so desire. I can reserve a movie at my local Redbox while I am comparison shopping. This is all aside from checking the weather forecast, browsing sports scores and news, and getting directions to and from anywhere.

Point is, there is a host of pretty useful things you can do with your phone now.