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Resisting the iPhone, at all costs
A boy using an iPhone.
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Tess Vigeland: Rob's reporting included a fascinating video from inside the Foxconn factory. It shows, among other things, how an iPad is assembled and tested. The iPad is the device that dominated Apple's earnings headlines for the first quarter. But it turns out the iPhone is the real moneymaker.
Apple said this week that it sold 35 million of them in the first three months of the year. That news will be no surprise to commentator Tim Bedore.
Tim Bedore: My 14-year-old daughter Claire is absolutely rabid for an iPhone. For two years she has pestered me. First, out of sheer envy; her friends had iPhones, she wanted one too. I said "No. You don't need one... and they're expensive."
After months of just wanting an iPhone not working, she tried a different tack. "Dad, if we both got iPhones, we'd reduce the cost per phone. It has GPS, the Internet. It'd be a big help for you on the road." She was bribing me by saying if she gets an iPhone, I could get one, too. I said, "No, but thanks for thinking of me. The phone I have works just fine." And for the hundredth time, I added, "iPhones are too expensive."
Undaunted, Claire then petitioned three different aunts to join some family plan, which reduces the cost per phone even further. By that time, I was dead set against it just because she so wanted it -- and especially because she was trying wear me down through badgering. "Stop asking for an iPhone," I said, "Or I'm going to take away your iPad," which I rationalized would help her with her homework.
You know what she did do with her iPad? Make a really slick multi-media presentation on the wonders of the iPhone. Claire showed it to me when I got back from a road trip and it was very impressive. She overcame her shyness about public speaking and delivered a professional, polished appeal on the virtues of the iPhone.
At the end, this clincher: "Dad, for $10 you could buy this accessory that swipes credit cards and sell more CDs after your shows to people who don't have cash. If you sold just 40 more CDs per year, that would pay for the difference in what our current cell phone plan costs."
She figured out how to make one iPhone pay for hers and mine. It seems almost un-American to not reward this stroke of entrepreneurial genius. Yet, I still haven't pulled the trigger. Claire has her nose in too many screens as it is, and this is another peer-group-gotta-have-it-consumers-gone-wild thing I don't want to give into.
But on that road trip, I did have to call home from the car, so my wife could get on the Internet and direct me to the venue I was not finding on my own. As Claire pointed out in her Madison Avenue presentation, I could have done that for myself with the iPhone I should get for her -- and for me.
Vigeland: Tim Bedore does stand-up comedy in Minneapolis.
Good for you Tim! I grew up with scrouge-y parents, I was the ONLY kid around without TV, the ONLY girl without a Barbie, the ONLY kid who didn't get soda and junk food cereals at home, and felt very persecuted. When I did really want something, I saved up and paid for it myself (a great and independent feeling). Most of these things, I lived without just fine, felt bad for myself, but I now feel I'm a more creative, independent-minded, and confident person for it. My husband and I now choose to live without TV or junk food, and have a much more balanced view of "want" vs "need" than many in our generation (these balanced decisions allowed us to pay off the mortgage on our very modest house by age 30). It seems likely that your very impressive daughter will eventually find a way to finance her own smart phone; down the road as an adult, she will tell this smartphone story with eyes rolling, but ultimately, with gratitude to you dad.
Tim,
If you're going to stand your ground, you need to pick a consistent rationale from the word go. As your daughter has badgered you, you've shifted reasons. Now, it's "Claire has her nose in too many screens as it is, and this is another peer-group-gotta-have-it-consumers-gone-wild thing I don't want to give into." This seems like a rock-solid, values-based reason for saying no (as most fundamental resistance to persuasion is). But, having given her an iPad, you're still on shaky ground. Also, are you creating opportunities for her, within and outside of the family, to have in-person experiences that can't be replicated with a phone? Have a talk with your daughter about the benefits of in-person communication, encourage her to take up activities that don't require a smartphone, AND make it possible for her to earn the money from you to eventually buy the phone and pay for it's ongoing expenses.
Tim could you be any more of a scrounge? I was impressed by all the work your daughter has done to get the phone. The power point presentation alone shows that she is smarter than the average kid. Why don’t you have her pay you back for the phone and maybe even pay a little towards the data charge. I think you could teach her a good lesson…
