[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by JavaBrewer

For the most part I agree what you are saying but realize that folks will stand in the cold for days to get their hands on the latest Apple device. Cult like - for a "damn phone" . Most will also be 'upgrading' from a fully functional older iPhone that they stood in line and/or paid handsomely for just a year or two ago.

Lastly, the market is flooded with smart phones the same size as the iPhone so that argument is really just an excuse. You are buying the iPhone because for you "it just works, no tinkering required". For the user already heavily entrenched in the Apple ecosystem that statement holds water - otherwise not so much...IMO.

You won't find me camping outside the Apple store the night before, but I will be ordering two online to replace my wife's nearly destroyed phone (thanks to our 2-year old) and my perfectly good iPhone 4 that the contract has expired on. Were I not upgrading to an iPhone I'd be upgrading to something else, the appeal of 4G now being available in Wichita is too good to resist and not iPhone specific.

The new latest and greatest phones are BIG. Big screens are great for browsing the net, but not so good for pants pockets. The iPhone packs the most tech into the smallest package, that's a big selling point for me. As for the just works, absolutely my opinion. I had a string of Blackberry products before the iPhone and always had to reset or tinker with settings, and found the UI to be buggy and counter-intuitive. I still have one for work, and still feel the same way. I fairly recently played with the newest batch of AT&T smart phones in a store while contemplating an upgrade, and didn't find anything that I felt had the simplicity and build quality of the iPhone. My wife is a technophobe and was able to learn hers without instructions. My 2-year old can navigate the phone and find games and movies that he likes. It's simple, intuitive, and reliable. That's perfect for what I need. Until somebody else does it better, I'll keep buying these.