iCan’t Afford That!

While I rarely buy anything from TV infomercials, one night I saw an ad for a battery-operated palm-sized razor for the very agreeable price of $9.99. Since my corded shaver often has to be sardined into my travel kit, I viewed this as an opportunity to reduce my on-the-road concerns by one.

But that strategy changed once I called the toll-free number.

The product, naturally, did not come with a case, so of course I added that to my shopping cart. Another $4.99 earned a grooming kit and assorted extra charges for maintenance accessories resulted in a hoped-for (or more likely naïve) under $10 purchase totaling somewhere in the neighborhood of $42. And to compound that spending malaise, it lasted exactly two months before emitting a throaty growl and expelling the shaver heads through the cover.

I recalled this vignette of overpaid nostalgia when I read that Apple’s new iPhone 5 will be available for pre-order today, while its official in-store offering to the public will be in one week.

As a current iPhone owner, the new model is admittedly impressive and does offer a number of upgrades that even a decided non-techie such as yours truly could appreciate. For instance, it has a 4-inch screen compared to the 3.5 inches of its predecessor; it’s also lighter and thinner and its A6 processor is roughly twice as fast as the iPhone 4S. It also sports two hours more of battery life than previous incarnations.

The iPhone 5 pricing is also comparable to earlier versions, $199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB and $399 for 64GB.

But like my economy-priced shaver, there’s always more.

For example, because of the different dimensions, the current add-ons for iPhone 4S won’t work with the new model. The dock connector is smaller for the upgraded version, which means that current iPhone users will either have to buy an adapter or replace it completely.

And lest we not forget, because iPhone 5 is longer and thinner, your current case will not fit, so better add that to your shopping cart. Also, it requires new earphones and for those who use their phones while running, it would behoove them to know that version 5 needs new sport add-ons like armbands.

Depending on how many bells and whistles you want to add, it could run as much as $200 above the listed price for whatever model you choose.

Nevertheless, Apple doesn’t appear to be worried, as it predicts it will sell more than 27 million iPhone 5s by the end of the quarter. And that piggybacks on projections of anywhere from 6 million to 10 million sales from the September 21 launch and the end of the month.

I expect I will eventually upgrade to the new version despite the add-ons and I’m fairly certain it will last longer than my shaver.

Just as long as they don’t begin offering it on QVC.