There's an App For That

Apple's Developer's Conference is this week and the rumors abound. My Appleist friends are very excited.

I don't currently own any Apple products (I gave away the 2004 shuffle), but I do own a few shares of the stock (AAPL) which has been on a tear lately. It's a long term holding for me, but its tempting to trade after such a great run from the 80s to 140s. My thinking is that kids now are growing up viewing Apple as a computer, music, phone company. A video camera (or capability) can't be far off and with the app store, seems the iPhones can do anything you can imagine.

Supercool Obama has a blackberry so Reseach in Motion (RIMM maker of the Blackberry) has been doing quite well lately too.

Smartphone sales have been one of the few growth areas during this near depression. I imagine that will accelerate during the recovery (which starts in October btw).

I am amazed that so many young people are willing to pay $100 a month for voice and data service to their $299 iPhone/smartphone.

So when will I get my own smartphone? I am looking at the Palm Pre (PALM) which competes with the iPhone yet has a keyboard and has its own App store and even connects to iTunes. The stock has been on a tear so I think its ready for a major pullback, but the Pre does get rave reviews.



But really I need my boss to approve my having smartphone data service and with expense reductions lately thats not likely to happen this year.

So I will be stuck with a "feature phone" for the time being, and watch all my friends with their iPhones updating their facebooks and tweeting their dining habits. Soon there will be an app that automatically senses your location and updates your status automatically. I guess thats the Big Brother app.

Maybe not having a smartphone is a good thing.