iPhone, iBread & Circus

I hope that I'm not the only one here who is sick of hearing about the iPhone? I like Apple products, and I do believe that Steve Jobs is one of America's best CEO's out there right now, but I am sick of the hype and obsession that a PHONE is being allotted by the mainstream media. I guess that this gentlemen had his rage boil up today over it.

For a phone that has no 3G and has NSAT&T as its carrier, it's replacing Paris Hilton as the media's center of attention (perhaps the next time she gets pulled over, she'll be caught watching a shitty movie on her iPhone while swerving into the left lane).

While we deal with an administration that has shown a penchant for secrecy worse than Nixon, and while a bomb plot has been foiled in London, there are people who are anxiously lining up, as far back as four days in advance. The lines have gotten so bad that people are making a business as place-holders for those who might need to go and take the occasional leak or shit.

Even an elected official has gotten caught up in the hoopla...while apparently neglecting to do his job:

Mayor John F. Street waited in line for an iPhone on Friday, but left after eight hours and told an aide to hold his spot when a passer-by asked him about the city's murder rate.

Street, wearing a baseball cap, sneakers, a black rain jacket and rain pants, said he had been waiting in line outside a downtown AT&T store since 3:30 a.m. Around his neck were large Bose headphones hooked up to an iPod Nano , one of three iPods he owns.

He left around 11:30 a.m., soon after a 22-year-old sporting a mohawk asked him, "How can you sit here with 200 murders in the city already?" The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on its Web site.

Philadelphia recently had its 200th slaying of the year. Its murder rate is up from last year, the deadliest in nearly a decade.

Mayor Street, you're doin' a heckuva job! The citizens of Philadelphia should be proud that their mayor cares about buying the latest Apple product more than he does in combating crime.

...It remains to be seen whether the iPhone will follow the iPod and become a pop culture symbol and go on to sell 100 million units, or will it end up like Sony's Playstation 3, which despite theft and trampling during its initial launch, has flopped in the face of competition like the Nintendo Wii.
Personally, I'll wait and see if Apple will put out a 2nd generation iPhone, and if there is an adequate price cut. I'm stuck with AT&T/Cingular as my carrier due to Verizon getting shitty reception in my area, so I'm not ruling out getting one entirely.