DON'T GET 'HUNG UP' ON BUYING AN IPHONE
TENS of thousands of people are expected to line up this Friday for themost hyped gadget of the decade - the iPhone. — Don't be one of them. — Oh, it's a technological marvel. But Apple's all-in-one handheld isn't the best cellphone …
Context & Ripple Effects
The New York Post's contrarian take lands at peak saturation: a week after USA Today reported iPhone mania nearing fever pitch, PC Magazine ran its own fatigue piece the same day, and shoppers have already camped outside Apple's Fifth Avenue flagship more than four days early. Against that backdrop, the column's argument is narrow and specific — the iPhone is a technological marvel, reviewers see it replicating key laptop functions, but it is not the best cellphone on the market.
What gives the skepticism teeth is the fine print Apple and AT&T announced alongside the launch: three service plans starting at $59.99 per month with unlimited data and visual voicemail, locking buyers into a carrier relationship on day one. The Post is arguing against conflating product admiration with purchase timing.
First-order effects
- Launch-day buyers this Friday commit to AT&T's $59.99-and-up monthly plans before any independent long-term assessment of the device exists — the column's core warning is about paying a premium for first-week ownership.
- Apple and AT&T get exactly what the queues deliver: tens of thousands of expected line-standers, including customers who waited 100 hours outside the Fifth Avenue store, function as free national advertising regardless of what critics print.
Second-order effects
- Rival handset makers and carriers face a hype asymmetry no ad budget matches — the counterargument now has to compete against four-day sidewalk vigils and Apple's retail theater, like the Seattle display kiosk looping UI demos.
- If early adopters report the phone underdelivers as a cellphone, the second wave of buyers becomes the real market battle, pressuring Apple to defend the price-plus-plan package rather than the gadget itself.
Third-order effects
- The episode crystallizes a split in tech media between launch-event coverage and purchase advice — a pattern where 'don't buy it yet' columns become a standard genre for every major device debut.
- Bundling an exclusive carrier plan into a hyped hardware launch sets the structural template for how smartphones reach consumers, making the carrier contract, not just the device, part of the buying decision.
The trend: Major gadget launches are becoming media events where the hype cycle itself — saturation coverage, sidewalk camps, and contrarian pushback — shapes purchasing behavior as much as the product does.