Saturday, September 08, 2007
It's come to this
People are angry and hurt after Apple discounted the iPhone's retail price by $200. This AP article discusses Apple's plan to offer a $100 rebate to existing owners who paid the original MSRP of $600 to have Apple's latest gadget. Apparently, not everyone who jumped on the iPhone trend train are happy about the price cut, and they let Steve Jobs know about it. Hearing their pain and empathizing, Jobs backed away from his original "tough luck" stance and sought to make peace by offering the $100 discount to existing users. What a magnanimous gesture by Mr. Jobs.
Now, I've always found the "first on the block" thing to be a bit silly. It means nothing, and is of no real significance, short of being able to strut and prance in front of the few people you know who will pay enough attention to your possessions to generate genuine envy. If your sense of self-worth and esteem is rooted in owning a particular gadget or good before anyone else you know, your life is probably sorely lacking in some very fundamental ways. But then, trendiness is all about belonging or being included, so I suppose it's no surprise that it holds such power with the proletariat, who seem more desperate for a sense of belonging all the time.
I ask, why bother belonging? Why bother going out of your way to find your place within a group? People are frivolous and trends change direction more often than the wind, so any acceptance gained is temporary, at best. Buying into trends or obsessing about being an early adopter creates a situation where we are constantly chasing what's new in order to maintain some imagined sense of superiority. In yet one more way, we become hamsters in wheels. The whole thing is asinine, and it allows companies like Apple or Microsoft or Sony to make unreasonable margins on their products, particularly in the first few months of release. Apple is still making money on iPhones selling for $400, but they knew a price point of $600 was doable, and gadget hungry early adopters proved them right, then got resentful about it.
The irony is, some will be more upset because they are no longer part of an elite minority of owners. Soon, thousands of proles will have iPhones as well and the techno-elite will have to find the next exclusive gadget to set them apart from the hapless masses. What they don't realize is that you can't buy special. You can't purchase uniqueness. The things we own should be expressions, not definitions, of who we are. But then, how many people do you know walk around with truly unique visions?
No matter what I own, or what I achieve in this life, I will not ever be anything more, or anything less, than a middle class kid from a Tampa suburb hardly anyone has ever heard of. There is no point in the "hey look at me, I've got this shiny new thing and you don't" mentality, because the few people my shiny new thing would impress are very likely as insignificant as I am. Should I one day stumble upon the cure for cancer or a means of harnessing unlimited energy or bring about world peace, we might have something to talk about. No whiz-bang new toy is going to change my status in the social hierarchy, only my deeds can do that. If my sense of self-worth were dependent on the material goods at my disposal, I would be in some serious trouble.
The idea is propagated everywhere from religion (Buddhism, Taoism, Judeo-Christian faiths, etc) to pop culture (Tyler Durdan's anti-materialism rants in Fight Club), but a large number of people have not, and will not, ever get it. Or maybe these people really do have nothing more to offer, making the accumulation of material things necessary for their esteem. Either way, I just thought the whole thing was ridiculous and felt compelled to rant about it. Otherwise, it was a good weekend. Got some riding in, even test rode a 2008 H-D Street Glide, which was surprisingly nice. I'm halfway through my Organizational Studies mid-term, prepping for my painting and drawing classes to start, and enjoying the gorgeous big, blue sky. Hope y'all are doing the same.
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