The iPhone 5 Craze Is Upon Us. The Economics of Culture-Bearing.

It’s rumor-time. It almost seems as though history is repeating. Even with technological icon and innovator Steve Jobs having passed on to the next life, the iPhone hype is still as strong as ever. Even with Apple showing ridiculous earnings for the first quarter of 2012, an amount that could outweigh the GDP of entire countries pound-for-pound and blow-for-blow, we’ve got the whole thing with an Apple employee “accidentally” leaving behind a prototype for a new model. And with rumors of patents and processors flying around, not to mention a silence seeming similar to that “calm before the storm” kind of thing, we’re in that whole should I-get-the-4S-because-I’m-lonely-and-need-Siri’s-attention vs. the-should-I-wait-it-out-save-up-my-pennies-in-the-piggy-bank-and-pitch-a-tent-outside-an-Apple-store-for-the-iPhone-5-dichotomy.

Regardless, the iPhone is still the best selling smartphone. Between a demographic that has merged hipsters, an artists, professionals and businesspeople many swear their lives by the iPhone and its apps as well as awesome practicality. In many ways, apps have provided new mediums of accessibility for companies to connect with customers in ways that have shaken up the industry in terms of simplicity much as 1 800 vanity numbers have. Though the differences between toll free numbers and the touch screen magic may have great variance, there are also striking similarities.

Much as 1800 numbers can serve and double as marketing slogans simply through a catchy spelling, anyone can tell you the difference between an iPhone and a phone is like night and day. Some people don’t even put a service on their phone and just rock it out as an iPod with a screen, whereas others have one that serves as a fully-functional phone but they never call anybody. Opting just to text, tweet and take pictures. Much like how some people stand in line for Starbucks and order everything except the coffee, a catchy vanity 800 number can serve your business much like the experience of standing in a Starbucks or doing some crazy tricks on a touchscreen can do.

Look at the craze of those tents pitched outside the Apple store. The iPhone is an awesome device, as many other smartphones are, but it’s not always a product, a touchscreen, a phone, or a gimmick that gets sold. It could also be an experience, purchasing a part of a chapter of cultural evolution. Look at your business, and what it offers outside of products and services. Look at what other demands you meet. Maybe you’re selling more than just a service.