Human lemmings they are.

Oh, look, a squirrel!

I don't even have a device.
I know. I'm pathetic.

JW (totally out of the loop) M

I went to the Apple Store yesturday. My son's phone croaked and there were a number of iPads there for people to try. I thought it was a bad idea to try to get the phone fixed yesterday, expecting a zoo. It wasn't that crowded. In fact, I was walking around and one of the pads was unattended. It's a large iPhone without the phone part. Plus it's the weight of 10 iPhones. I'm not sure I'd use it if I got it for free. It's too heavy. The iPhone is just fine for reading. The Kindle is black and white and much less weight. The ipad is a nonphone that won't fit in your pocket.

Why should I get the device when I don't even have a cell phone yet?

This. Weak. Apple.

FIFY.

The torrent of instant communication has served to mute meaning and diffuse conversation into a broad scatter of symbols and shortcuts. Language is changing at the pace of technology. Meaning is being lost even faster.

Thus we build our tower of Babel. Thus we confuse our own language. See, how like God we are? We didn't even need His help to destroy what we are making, even while making it. Next!

My wife gave me a 32GB Ipod Touch for Christmas, after considering the single-purpose Kindle. Why did we shun the Kindle? I explained here. There were several reasons, but a large one was that the Kindle is not pocketable.

The iPad does a lot more than the Kindle, to be sure - but same problem as far as I am concerned. I would not be able to just toss it into my pants pocket and go. I can with the iTouch. With the Kindle reader for iTouch, I am never without my library. This is hugely convenient!

But it's also the chief reason there will be no iPad for me. It strikes as an overgrown iTouch without the superb portability. No contest.

The terminology you're searching for here, GV, is:
"OOH SHINY".
It seems to manifest itself most visibly in purchasers of Apple products, and anyone who never raises the hood of their car.