Is it just me that gets tired of gadget hype?

Not talking about any specific gadget here, as there are a lot of them that are included in this gripe, but obviously the Iphone is one of them.

It irritates me more and more how any new gadget is always hyped as the [previous hot gadget] killer, is hardly ever produced in quantites that will let you stroll into a shop and just buy one, and in the case of most new phones even when you do they're seemingly always locked into one carrier or another.

It's not just phones though. The Nintendo Wii is another good example - at least here in the UK. The balance board that goes with the console has been intermittently impossible to get for about a year. What's that about - Can it be anything but a deliberate control of supply and demand? What manufacturer can't ramp up production given 12 months notice that people will want a truckload of their gear for Christmas.

I was just looking at the BBC, who reported that Palm have announced their latest, the Pre. It will be available in the Spring in the US, tied to Sprint. They have declined to say when it'll be available in other countries.

Yaaaawn . . . so shall I be queueing outside a Vodaphone shop for 8 hours when they finally deign to grace us with about a quarter of the number they expect to sell, or shall I wait till they're sitting on the shelves at Carphone warehouse for £99, and the next must have geegaw has been announced for 'some time before October 2011'?

On the other hand, it seems to have backfired on Blackberry. They let a tiny trickle of those storm things onto the market after hyping the nuts off of them, and they turned out to be a pile of doo-doo. For everyine that bought one, there must be 10 people that didn't because they couldn't, and now won't bother.

Think I'll stick with my 3 year old Blackberry curve for now.

Gadget hype is tiresome only if you buy into it. Don't get too excited when manufacturers tout their new product and you're not setting yourself up for disappointment later. Plus, they're just things, no need to get all worked up about it.

Kash said:

Gadget hype is tiresome only if you buy into it. Don't get too excited when manufacturers tout their new product and you're not setting yourself up for disappointment later. Plus, they're just things, no need to get all worked up about it.

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It's not the actual stressing and agonising to get my hands on the gadgets that bothers me - as you say, it really doesn't matter, and I have never done that.

It's the fanfare that surrounds it all - the news sites, the forums, etc. I just find reading a) the relentless trumpetting of new gadgets by the press and the manufacturers (long before they're even available), and b) the endless squawking by people desperate but unable to to be 'first' to have them to be a bit tiresome.

It's especially irksome when it's something like the Storm. It sort of goes;

Press: New gadget in the summer! If you don't got one, you're a caveman!
Every forum on earth: Yay! I'm getting one!!
Press: New gadget out next week! Queues forming!!
EFOE: Yay! I'm so excited, I can't sleep!!
Press: New gadget out! Stocks low! Thousands disappointed!!
EFOE: I got one!! or I didn't get one!!!!
Press: New gadget fantastic! Set to Topple Iphone!!!!
EFOE: Mine broke! I get a new one in 4 weeks!!!
Press: Quality concerns over new gadget!
EFOE: Man, this thing sucks!!
Press: New gadget out Christmas!!! If you don`t get one, you're a caveman!!

Etc etc.

Note tongue somewhat in cheek. I'm not really that bothered . . . I'd be far more annoyed if I'd actually bought one.

jonnyd said:

Not talking about any specific gadget here, as there are a lot of them that are included in this gripe, but obviously the Iphone is one of them.

It irritates me more and more how any new gadget is always hyped as the [previous hot gadget] killer, is hardly ever produced in quantites that will let you stroll into a shop and just buy one...

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I feel the same way.
The link in my signature pretty much sums up how I feel about the whole thing.

I've seen very, very few products live up to the hype surrounding them.

Maybe 4 in my lifetime.

1.) Playstation 2
2.) DVD
3.) iPod
4.) iPhone (regardless of my opinion of the darn thing.)

Derek McNelly said:

I've seen very, very few products live up to the hype surrounding them.

Maybe 4 in my lifetime.

1.) Playstation 2
2.) DVD
3.) iPod
4.) iPhone (regardless of my opinion of the darn thing.)

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Good list.

I don't remember the first three ever being difficult to get, but then I was not one of the first to get any of them. Maybe the Iphone falls into the short stock category, but they are all bona fide groundbreakers. No complaints about them in that respect.

I haven't got an Iphone. Having already had a Blackberry when they first appeared I just got an Ipod touch, which I think is an excellent piece of kit.

But the Blackberry is now starting to look a bit scuffed . . .