Ala Carte

You may remember the first time you went to one of those fancy schmancy restaurants. One of those joints that has someone who takes you to your table, someone who takes your drink order, another person recommends what steak you should get, someone else is fretting around with new napkins and fresh water, someone who has the job of driving the dessert cart around. It’s like a factory.

I’m talkin’ one of those places where you order a $60 steak and you get …a steak! That's it. The rest of the meal is available ala carte.

I’m in the process of deciding on a new PDA. Bravo to the marketing thrust. We are being bombarded with deals, gadgets, the latest, the fastest, and the newest.

My trip to the stores was a blast; if I was in search of a headache then it was a success. If I want the phone, it’s $600. It won’t do anything, but I’m welcome to purchase it. This will undoubtedly be replaced in a year or two with the next latest thing. But if I sign for three years, I can have it for $200.

I read a story recently about Taipei – the semiconductor capital of the world. Some replace their phones every 6-8 months.

So I choose my steak.

But in the PDA world – I don’t even get a plate with it. I need a data package, storage, email, roaming, long distance, the list goes on. Oh, you want a steering wheel? Well, that's extra.

In Canada, Apple sold more that a million iPhones in three days. It was lunacy. People were camped out at retail outlets all over the world for one of these cool devices.

When Blackberry releases the Bold on August 15th, the mania will probably not be quite the same. Good job, Jobs.

But if you get wooed by the sexy new device, stop and breathe. Pay attention to the stuff around it – the stuff that can add up quickly. The stuff no one reads.

I love technology, I love new stuff, but perhaps it would’ve been easier just to go to the closest drive-thru and get a combo #2.

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