Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Archive for November 4th, 2008

I was wandering around a mall here in Ottawa (and learned that is what retired people do as well, not just unemployed folk), while my wife shopped for a new snowsuit for my 3 year old son. I did what every other husband does (ok most husbands) do in this situation, I wandered away and looked at something I was interested in.

I wandered over to the Fido kiosk (Fido that is now owned by Rogers now) and talked to the young gentleman who was shilling (selling) the iPhone.

Now as background I have always wondered whether it is better to keep my current cell phone (or better still go for a cheaper pay per use phone) and buy an iPod touch (which is essentially the same technology as the iPhone) or should I buy the iPhone.

An iPhone from Fido with 16 GB of memory would cost me $299, however this is before I turn it on. A 32 GB iPod touch would cost me $409 from Best Buy, which already has more memory than the iPhone. The difference in price is about $110 right now, before I start using my iPhone (I can already hear my wife wondering what is he doing, we can’t afford an iPhone).

My current cell phone costs about $45.00 a month or so, but it does not include data. The two packages available from Fido is either for  $60 or $75 a month to use the HSPA 3G network with my iPhone. This means to recuperate the $100 price difference is about 8 months (if I go with the cheapest Fido plan).

For me, the choice is obvious, don’t buy any of this, since I am unemployed and this kind of discretionary spending is completely off the scale, however, if I did have a high paying job, I would buy the iPod touch and find a cheaper cell phone to use. No, in my model with a cell phone and an iPod touch, I don’t have a 3G data access for my touch, as I would with the iPhone, however, I do have Wi-Fi access with both devices, which is fine for me.

My only question is, who is buying the iPhone? Is it a toy or is it a business tool? Is it a status symbol or a piece of advanced technology? (it’s not advanced technology, everything in it is pretty old hat).

I also have come to the conclusion I need to go and find a cheaper cell phone plan, although I suspect with the coming competition, it may be much cheaper, much sooner.

Carnivals

• My Family’s Money hosted the Carnival of 20 Something: Gummi Bears Edition where my pillar post Einstean Rule of 72 post.