Geekfoolery

Looking ahead at 2007, I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of many new toys in the geekosphere. The Consumer Electronics Show and MacWorld are both around the corner, promising iPods, iPhones and iPod phone-killers. The December rush for Nintendo Wiis will be dying down enough such that it may actually be possible for an amateur consumer to walk into a retail shop and obtain one just by asking the clerk to get him one and slapping down his plastic. You’ll even be able to pay actual retail price, instead of the the same price that would buy a decent used car on eBay. Both Apple and Microsoft have new operating systems about to be released into the wild, and for many that often means a whole new system as well.

Early adopters can look forward to a busy 2007, based on these early indicators.

But I’d like to take a moment for a seldom-heard round of thanks and applause for Last Year’s Model. Blasphemy, perhaps, in the company of geeks to suggest that anything less than the very latest thing is “good enough” or even “okay,” never mind to suggest that it’s neat or cool to get something that is one or two models back in the product cycle. Sure, it’s OK to suggest that Aunt Bea would be just fine with that computer model from a couple years ago, but not us, right?

Keep in mind the geek motto, the one about being the one with the most toys. Somewhere in that theme is the idea of not only dying with more toys, but also the hope of not having all your credit cards maxed out as well. The nice thing about being a fan of technology is that no matter how cutting edge and high tech and feature-rich the products that Steve and rest of the are going show us in the next few weeks are, and no matter how much they are going to cost, sooner or later, we’ll be able to afford it. This effect runs the range from saving a few percentage points on refurbished or open-box units of current stuff, all the way down to eBay sellers hawking a hardware that once cost thousands for 20 bucks, or the occasional giveaway from a friend.

Perfect example, the Sony Playstation 2. I know a guy who waited in line overnight the day before this thing came out and paid the full retail, and counted himself lucky. I was given one a couple months ago by someone who was moving. DVD players debuted at thousands of dollars. I think I saw one at the supermarket recently–the supermarket!–for $30.

We’re also at the point where electronics manufacturers probably spend a fair amount of time sitting around wondering what additional features are there that they haven’t thought of yet that can be added to a gizmo. Digital cameras, for example, now have so many megapixels that unless you’re printing billboards, you can’t tell the difference between an 5 megapixel image and a 12 or 20 or 50 megapixel image, or whatever the latest “hot” number is that CaNikOlympus has to put on the cameras. Elsewhere, Apple has made a killing in the portable audio market by putting fewer features into their iPods. Look at the Shuffle… tell me there aren’t designers at Creative and Sandisk saying, “But boss… it doesn’t even have a screen, for crissakes! Look at ours, it has song titles, album art, barometric pressure and real-time stock quotes! And the Shuffle still kicks our butt!”

I will of course drool over the new stuff that coming out along with the rest of you. But I have yet to see a gizmo’s price that didn’t drop. And when it does, I’ll be ready. It might not be the hot new thing anymore, but will be new to me, at least.

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