How I ended up with an iPhone

If you know me very well you know I am somewhat of a paradox, because I am a very big Apple fan who has never owned and iPhone, there aren't very many people in that demographic and now I'm not either. For years (since giving up my old palm zire) I have owned an iPod touch and been very happy with it. While I have always been very interested in the iPhone and what was going on with it I never felt any need to own one.

Here's why:

• That's a lot of money for a cellular radio: If you buy an iPhone straight out (off contract) they cost a lot of money, much more than an iPod touch. That just seemed like a lot of money to me to get a cellular radio. Especially since I would never use the cell phone feature because I hate cell phone companies.
• I hate data plans: If you have read my blog very long you know how I feel about data plans and the way cell companies use them to rip people off. I refuse to pay for one so I figured I would never own an iPhone on contract, and I could never afford to pay for one off contract.

What happened: 

• I always buy used: I never buy electronics new, it simply is not worth it with the fast depreciation of their value. Now fortunately Apple products hold their value better than some others I could mention, but still I prefer not to take the initial hit. Food is about the only thing that I buy new.
• Lost and Found Sale got canceled: Traditionally BYU, where I attended school, holds a lost and found sale every fall, where unclaimed items are put up for sale and auction. This is a place where I have gotten some good deals on used electronics in the past (as well as a lot of other items). Well this year it got canceled for some unknown reason, this left me with an unused electronics budget.
• I went to a yard sale: well, I go to lots of yard sales, it's part of how I avoid buying new, but this yard sale had something I had never seen at a yard sale before: an iPhone. Granted it was a 4S which is now a two year old model, but the upgrade is all in where you are coming from, not where other people are.

Why I got it:

• iOS 7: my iPod touch has been a loyal and faithful device, but it is not able to make the upgrade to the new operating system. In order to keep writing a relative blog here I knew I would need to be able to talk about iOS 7.
• Sweet deal: Off contract phones are expensive, like new computer expensive. Even old models can fetch a pretty good price. So when I saw a good deal on one, that made we want to jump on it.
• Better camera: Once I knew the phone was a 4S and not a 4 I knew that the camera in it would be much, much better that the one on my iPod touch or the one on my iPad mini. Since I never carry a camera with me anymore the purchase of a new device is essentially also the purchase of a camera.
• More Memory: the phone had of course been reset so I could not tell how much memory it had before I bought it, but I knew it would have to be more than my 8 gig iPod touch. Up until the release of the iPhone 5S there was no 8 gig version of the 4S, and this was before that release. So logically I had to at least double my memory to a 16 gig by purchasing it. It actually turned out to be 64 gig which made me feel even better about my purchase. 

So there you have, I bought an iPhone, at a yard sale. How many people do you think have done that? If you have a good story about getting a sweet deal on an Apple product I would love to hear it in the comments below.