In the midst of all the enthusiastic market reactions to the iPhone , Steve Safran at Lost Remote TV Blog has a sober reminder on the perils of being an early adopter of Apple products:

Apple has trained me now: if I buy the first version of a new product, I will regret it. I have the first iPod – look at the battery problems that had, and how reluctant Apple was to address them halfheartedly as they did. Early adopters should be rewarded – we pay the most and help establish the market for a product, after all. We should get upgrade discounts or trade-in rebates or something. Anything besides regret.

I would add to his comment that when it comes to the iPod, even later versions like the Mini continue to have limited battery life and are actually not perfect machines.

The beauty of the Apple’s gadgets and interface design, and the simplicity of their use sometimes generates a glow that does not allow us users to evaluate its features at the same level as competing products. We sometimes sacrifice practicality (e.g., DRM, battery life) for the sheer pleasure of getting a cool gadget.

There is nothing wrong with impulse purchases, but at the end of the day a phone is just a phone, and its long-term success will be judged largely on other key factors such as call quality, battery life and price point.

Most of us are ready to buy the iPhone just by looking at its design, but with consumer electronics it is sometimes better to wait for v 2.0.

Still, you will find me at the queue to the Apple store to see this marvel of technology. Will I see you there?