Apple hysteria x 3G

Apple iPhone week is upon us once again, inspired by a new handset with new features and new marketing, along with the same old hype, sea of press coverage and publicity-craving line campers that we've come to expect from last year.

Along with many others in the city of Chicago, I plan to be in the front of the line when the 3G iPhone goes on sale this Friday. I was there last year, too, but in the role of AT&T public relations intern, performing crowd control and trying to incite enthusiasm in a 150-deep line of tired Apple fans. Now, one year later, the craziness surrounding the iPhone has yet to dissipate. As supplies of the original iPhone have purposely diminished, consumers have given up neither their quest to obtain version 1.0 nor their anticipation of version 2.0. Over in the U.K., demand was so high for pre-orders of iPhone 3G that it crashed carrier O2's site. Regardless, stock was completely sold out in a few hours.

My personal mission for the 3G iPhone brought me to craigslist, where eager bidders were offering $300+ for new and used versions of the first iteration of the handset. Today's listing of iPhone 1.0 potential buyers and sellers includes more than 200 — some wanting locked or unlocked, 4 GB or 8 GB handsets. I sold mine for $350 in cash with little questions asked. Buyers even came all the way from across the globe — Senior Editor Kevin Fitchard's friend got $380 from a buyer in Nigeria.

Because I've caught the iPhone 3G bug and had to get rid of my 8 GB model a week early, I've been using a pay-as-you-go hunk of junk for the past week. Believe it or not, I haven't gone crazy or experienced too many signs of withdrawal. Although no matter how hard I press the screen, nothing happens, the brick of a handset makes phone calls and gets text messages out — plus I can drop it without feeling a sense of panic. I've come to realize that I miss the simplicity of a handset that fulfills its No. 1 purpose — making calls — and not much else.

So far, Apple has been undeniably successful in making a multimedia handset that can do multiple things without detracting from its core purpose. The second generation of the iPhone promises to make sure it does those multiple things even faster, better and without adding on more cost than it did the first time. Yet I still worry that in the influx of iPhone copycats and newer models to come, we'll get away from the most basic purposes of the handset. A phone with a five-megapixel camera, GPS navigation and instantaneous Internet is no good if the call quality isn't top-tier. Until last year, mobile handsets have always been primarily about making phone calls. Do we really need 1000 features and applications detracting from that? Probably not.

Then again, it was never about need. See you in line on Friday

E-mail me at sreedy@telephonyonline.com.