If you are so disposed, and maybe easily displeased, you could say a lot of negative things about the iPhone’s grip on the news today: It’s just viral marketing by an expert multimillion-dollar company, consumerism has gone too far, or that it’s an irrelevant aesthetic worshipping event as unnecessary distraction from more important things. But there are some people out there waiting in line for the iPhone that are using this event to highlight certain causes that are beneficial.
Staff members and supporters of the HIV/AIDS prevention organization Keep A Child Alive, which provides life-saving anti-retroviral treatment to children and their families with the disease, were some of the first people in line for the iPhone at the SOHO store in Manhattan. They intend to raise a large amount for their cause by auctioning off their iPhones to the highest bidder. You can follow their iPhone-waiting right here.
So the fact that people are using this day for favorable reasons is one example that you can use the consumerist model for good. Though I am sure that they won’t resist the urge to play with the phones for a little before they sell it off.
On the other hand, there are some people who see the iPhone craze and cringe.
The iPhone has brought warnings from some personal finances groups. Talking about the dangers of unnecessary debt, talk radio host and financial debt specialist Dave Ramsey recently noted that you should follow common sense and that if you can’t afford the phone, that you shouldn’t get it: “Do you go into debt for $500 for something you carry around in your hand or pocket? No. Absolutely not. You don’t.”
Here’s the video.
Keeping track on the health of your finances is more than sensible advice, but it seems that for many people, taking out a few hundred dollars for a must-get gadget isn’t as hard as it seems these days.
In the meantime, the iPhone is now within reach. Only a few minutes until stores open in the East Coast and about 3 hours until they do so on the West Coast. To read through some recent Wired articles regarding the iPhone, please click here.
