Who Would Line Up For a Mobile Phone?

Apple’s new smart phone, the iPhone3G, created a stir on its launching two days ago. At first glance, one would be at a loss why the world would endure the long line for a mobile phone.

One answer given at the Washington News query: “are you planning to buy the new iphone?” goes right off the bat: “I think it so ridiculous how people flock to the latest and greatest tech! It is a freaking phone for crying out loud! It is way over priced and the extra service you have to get is over priced also! It is just a cell phone! It aint gonna cook me dinner, make the bed, do the dishes, or benefit my daily routine. Not buying it”

 

But the new iPhone is not just another mobile phone. It boasts of a whooping 600MZ CPU, 256 MB of RAM, and 16 to 32 GB of storage capacity. It has a “magnetometer, improved camera, and video recording” according to one review.

With the iPhone, we have here a slowly but surely merging of the PC and the mobile phone enabling access to the internet with more ease and flexibility.

Smart phones and the internet, have a wider and far reaching effect than just mere toys for rabid consumers. Out of such communication tools, a new and unfamiliar environment could emerge that may somehow shock the world. We have Iran recently as an example of this.

These high-tech tools create “a world where people will be empowered to share and connect with what matters most to them xxx”. And this is the key idea here – the empowering of ordinary individuals to do things which would be impossible for them to do many years before. CNN in Iran was many times scooped by ordinary subscribers of Twitter in delivering fresh and on the spot news items.

And as more and more cities and countries delve into WIFI technology, giving ordinary people more flexibility in accessing the internet, one cannot truly imagine the changes that would take place in the field of human interaction, brought about by these tech tools such as the iPhone3.