classic (iPhone) i-block

At a friend's "wine and cheese party" Saturday, I met this guy who was telling me how he was "i-blocked". So apparently this guy was sitting at a bar and had just met a girl. Things were looking up, he said. He'd just bought her a drink, she inched closer to him. And then bam - some guy comes out of nowhere, playing with his iPhone, and apparently this girl he was talking to lost all interest in him and started ogling at the iPhone instead. Classic i-block*.

I had something sorta similar happen to me. After my near 4 month hiatus from a 'smartphone' and dealing with my Nokia, which complained that it was out of memory because I'd received too many text messages, I hit up my buddy JD to get a make-shift phone (till one of you buys me a BlackJack 2). So JD gets me this Palm Treo. Anyhow, I was standing in the corner of this room at my friend's party using the interactive feature in Live Maps with my forefinger when this girl comes up to me (honest, I am NOT making this up)

Girl : Is that the iPhone?

Me : No, its a Palm Treo running Windows Mobile 6 and Live Maps.

Girl : (blank stare) Oh, so its like a Blackberry? Why don't you have an iPhone?

Me : Well, because

Girl (interrupting) : Sorry, gotta go. Don't care.

The iPhone is not just another device that consolidates an iPod, a phone and internet capabilities. It's now a fashion statement. It's an accessory. It's a conversation piece. It can be your sex appeal. I am not being facetious when I say this, but I've learned that you can start having conversations with people you haven't been able to in the past with the iPhone. Random people will actually come up to you and start talking to you if you have the iPhone. If a date's not going well, just pull out your iPhone and start browsing pictures or zooming in and out of Google maps.

I'm at a Panera Bread here in South Beach. Maybe I'm just noticing this a lot more but look at what I saw as I walked in to the store today :

iphones at panera

Eerie.

Like it wasn't bad enough that there is always someone better looking or someone richer to steal that girl from you at the bar, or an annoying wing-friend that this girl has, now we have the iPhone.

"ai"