I picked up an iPhone Macro on the weekend. The latest product offering from Apple definitely has some serious cool factor going for it but I find it a bit impractical at times.
For example, it much easier to run on the treadmill with my iPod Touch which can easily fit onto an armband. The iPhone Macro, on the other hand is a bit more cumbersome. The good thing is that this will actually make the workout a bit harder.
Also, it’s phone functions are best used on speakerphone because holding up the phone to my head is a bit of a balancing act, but necessary if you want to keep your calls private.
It’s actually called the iPad…
This was a total impulse buy. It was a beautiful day on Saturday and I felt like a mini road trip, so I hopped across the border and went to the Apple store in the Walden Galleria in Buffalo, New York. They were sold out of 16GB models before I got there, but the 32GB and 64GB models were still available. (I wonder if they only carried, like, two of the 16GB in stock per store so that everyone would ante up for the higher priced models?). The price was $599USD (vs $499USD for the 16GB model). After tax it was pretty close to $650USD even. Then you also had to pay GST/PST when crossing back into Canada, which was another $85 CAD. (Yes, I had to pay GST/HST on the base price PLUS the New York State tax – a tax on tax! Boo to that. Make sure to check with vendors across the border if they will refund the tax at time of purchase – some do and some don’t.)
Assuming parity, we’ll call it a grand total of $735 CAD. If we assume that the Canadian prices are the same at launch as the US prices, a Canadian bought 32GB iPad would be $599CAD + GST/PST of 13% for a total of $676.87.
Canadian Pricing…?
If the rumours are true that the prices will be $50 higher across the board, then we are looking at $733.37 after tax for that same model in Canada. Almost even to the $735 CAD I paid. But of course, there is the matter of the $40 in gas and $3.00 in tolls across the Fort Erie bridge to add in. So to be fair, I traded about $45 for being able to have the iPad (oh yeah, that’s the real name!) a few weeks early. Was it worth it? Hell yeah. This thing is pretty awesome. I prefer surfing the web on the iPad then on my desktop or laptop. Perhaps tomorrow I will give a bit of a review…
Once it is launched in Canada, I’ll be giving one away on the blog… so stay tuned!
I don’t get it – is it a book or a computer? ;)
Good story.
Thanks for sharing.
Can we pre-register for the giveaway? ;)
Does that mean we will see an iPhone Mini? Maybe they will call that the iTampon? :O
C8j
Well, I guess this is one of the answers to the question that your blog title poses. I’m as much a tech junkie as the next geek, but already having a MacBook, it’s hard to justify purchasing an iPad…yes, I agree, less than optimal name choice.
Love the action photos. $735 = iPad. Photos? Priceless. Still waiting for the proverbial “killer app” before taking a serious look. Keep hearing about new and creative uses. Coolness factor -off the charts. Give away? I’m there.
Oh man, it’s bigger than the original cell phones. Bad move Apple, no one is going to be able to handle such a huge phone. They’ll have to introduce a helmet/holder to hold it in place at all times like a bluetooth device. That would look pretty cool, but the impaired peripheral vision is a pitfall.