Data Whore: Why I Splurged on a 64GB iPhone 4S

Frustrated to near tears the other night I rang Verizon Wireless and asked if I could upgrade three weeks early. The nice southern belle on the phone got manager approval to do so and recommended, after I asked about size, the 16GB iPhone. I was thinking even if it wasn’t big enough, I’d have a lot of music stored not locally, but on the cloud. The next day I had buyer’s remorse. I’m American, I want more. I’m a Babson student, I want to consume more data!

The next day I went to the Verizon Wireless store hoping that delivering an unopened Fedex box would result in them waiving the “restocking” fee. No such luck. I asked when the 32GB would ship. In about two weeks he said. I’m leaving in one week for a two-week holiday. “What about the 64GB,” chimes mom. “Any day now.” OK, I’ll do that. He starts processing. Then he asks me why I want so much space. “Apart from being American,” I ask. Well, am I just going to put my music library on the mysterious Cloud? Is it unlimited because we all know Apple and Amazon are getting us hooked on Web-based storage only to charge us later?

No, he responds, they give you 5GB now and after that you are charged a fee. Well, I respond, I have 15GB in my iTunes library so ask me again why I want 64GB! But that’s not the real reason. Right now our phones are 1) a phone, 2) an MP3 player 3) a camera/videocamera, 4) a social networking device, and 5) an email tool. We also use our smartphones to 6) shop, 7) pay bills, and yes 8 ) online date, perhaps even while in the bathroom at work. Sexy I know but it’s true. If we do all of that with one device, it’s not a smartphone, it’s a mini computer. And that’s just in 2011. What about 2012? 2013? 2014? By then our phone will be our 9) WALLET too.

So, Mr. Verizon, why do I want more space? Because I want excess capacity because I’ve had no idea what tools I’ll be using on Monday, let alone 18 months from now. But when those tools surface I don’t want to have to buy more space to use them.