I have an iPhone that I think once belonged to Barney Rubble. It's ancient. I mean, I've had the thing for three and a half years, which in our current high-tech era means it's only a slightly more advanced tool than the ball-peen hammer. I've been wanting to upgrade for some time and had planned to grab the new model — the iPhone 5S — as soon as it became available.
I'm thinking now I won't; not until the first and maybe the second crush of purchasers get theirs, play with them for a while, and all the bugs are out. It was already going to be a bit of a hassle, above and beyond just getting my mitts on the device. I need a new case, new chargers, new adapters, etc. Now I'm hearing that many apps won't (yet) work with the new operating system. I think (I hope) my old 3G won't automatically and irrevocably upgrade from Operating System 6 to 7 and I can delay that for a while.
This purchase is supposed to make my life easier, not more difficult. A friend of mine takes what he calls the "One Behind" principle of electronics. When they bring out the new model of anything…that's the time he upgrades or buys the previous version. He's presuming they'll perfect the new Operating System 7 about the time Operating System 8 comes out.
It's the new version of The Peter Principle. You all know The Peter Principle…
The Peter Principle is a proposition that states that the members of an organization where promotion is based on achievement, success, and merit will eventually be promoted beyond their level of ability. The principle is commonly phrased, "Employees tend to rise to their level of incompetence." In more formal parlance, the effect could be stated as: employees tend to be given increasing authority until they cannot continue to work competently. It was formulated by Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull in their 1969 book The Peter Principle, a humorous treatise, which also introduced the "salutary science of hierarchiology."
…or so sayeth Wikipedia. It seems to me the high-tech version of this would be something like, "Elective technical upgrades tend to occur when the previous version is perfected." Or something like that. I may even look into an iPhone 5 without the S.