An iPhone: The Best $600 You'll Ever Waste

As soon as she gets her hands on the thing, the cashier next to her catches sight of it and flashes me a look of what I can only describe as sheer ecstasy before asking if she, too, can take a look. When the two women on either side of me and the one in line behind me realized there was an iPhone owner in their midst, they reacted like I was one of the Beatles, circa 1964.

Maybe I'm embellishing a bit, but not much. It is true that within that five-minute period, more women tried to make more small talk with me than at any time in the last four or five years. Sure, that's not saying a whole lot, but I did have a guitar and play in a band in college (saying that I played guitar in a band would depend on a very liberal interpretation of the word "play"), and that worked pretty well, but it's small stuff compared to the iPhone.

I had a similar experience when I went to BLT Burger, which I cannot recommend too highly, and my waitress couldn't take her eyes off of it. Sadly, my girlfriend was with me, so I couldn't empirically test the full extent of the iPhone's magnetic capabilities.

People compare the price of the iPhone to the much lower price of a BlackBerry or a Treo and conclude that the $600 price tag is way too expensive. They're using the wrong comparison. We should be comparing the iPhone with plastic surgery. What's $600 compared to the $6,000 you might pay for a tummy tuck, or the $8,000 many will pay for a face-lift? As a cosmetic enhancement, only wrinkle treatments like Allergan's (AGN Quote) Botox, or Restylane from Medicis (MRX Quote) are cheaper.