Ampers & Dot

Yeah, this is my second iPhone post in a week, sorry.  As Silicon Alley reports the line has begun to form for the 3g iPhone, which will be available this Friday at 8am. Wait, is that post really from the 4th? Last Friday? One WEEK before the real launch!? Idiots. Seriously, camping out in line for the 3G iPhone is stupid. And here’s why:

It’s nothing that new.
I’ll admit it, when the first gen iPhone came out last year I understood why people where waiting in line. This thing was living in Rumorville for years, then marketinghypeville for six months. People were jazzed because there had never been anything like it before. No one knew what to expect. I’ll even go as far as calling it a new paradigm of gadgetry.

But the 3G iPhone doesn’t improve on that. It’s just a little rounder and a little faster on the insides. The operating system still looks the same and acts pretty much the same. Hell, even Mossberg says so.  Being one of the first few to have this thing in your hands means pretty much nothing.  We all know what to expect.

It won’t actually have good data speeds for another few months.
Expecting to get that “3G” iPhone out of the box and be blazing through the webs at a lightening quick pace? Think again (side note: I’d love for someone to go through the line at the Apple store and poll to see how many people actually know what “3G” means).

Last year when the iPhone was launched AT&T’s network basically crashed for a month leaving iPhone users (and all the loyal 3G users) with TMobile like connection speeds (that’s bad, btw (2nd side note for new readers: “btw” is one of the only abbreviated terms I’ll use, but I only do so ironically because it actually has more syllables than “by the way”)). Adding a million customers onto a limited capacity bandwidth slowed everything down for everyone and things will be severely throttled again this summer.

And as Venturebeat tells it, this will improve in a few months, but not by Friday. So get out of line.

There will be an extremely limited resale market.
This is the most important point of all because I’m not sure people really understand this yet. Last year many of the early iPhone scorers were able to resell the devices for loads more than they paid. Good deal, right? Wait in line a few days a make a few grand- not too shabby. But not this time.

To purchase a 3G iPhone you will be required to sign up for an iPhone contract with AT&T (or spend $700). Sure the $200 pricetag is nice, but at iPhone contract prices, you’ll be hosed by the year’s end. What this means is that buying two to unlock (which is going to be more difficult) and sell on ebay will be a fruitless effort requiring you to be locked into a contract.

So why are people doing it?

Idiots. Also: fame. And: marketing hype. People get really caught up in the marketing (Apple is awesome at capturing the masses) and understand the exposure of being in this silly line. Just look at iPhone Jonny, a guy who will likely be interviewed dozens of times for his expert ability of waiting… in a line… for a week.

Basically, it’s the summer time. The news stations don’t have much to talk about and this is something to grab onto for the next week. Hell, I put the over/under on number of Gizmodo posts dedicated solely to the lines at stores at 42.5 - make your bets. So if you’re in the market for a 3G iPhone, I don’t blame you- it’s cool, but don’t get in line now. Just wait a month or if you really need the Apple-fix then go on Saturday morning and you’ll be fine.  Just don’t wait in line.

And once you do get a 3G iPhone… can I play with it?