iPhone Meets Pink Floyd

Let’s put aside the channel for a few minutes and reminisce about lost youth. Rewind to the summer of 1986. The VAR Guy was a high school punk busing tables at a local seafood joint. He finally saved enough money — about $400 — to buy the hottest consumer electronics item on the market: a CD player. Next up, he ran to the local record store to purchase his first CD: Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. It was digital nirvana. Ironically, this very story repeated itself today in Santa Clara — but this time with Apple’s iPhone. Here’s what happened.

The VAR Guy started today with a breakfast meeting. He was discussing business with two PR pros when one of them — let’s call him LaDanian — asked The VAR Guy why he hadn’t purchased the iPhone yet. Good question. The VAR Guy had spent the past two days at a wireless conference, where the iPhone buzz was overwhelming. And he’s been blogging non-stop about the iPhone’s promise as a business device.

It was time to take the plunge. He headed to the local Apple Store and paid $400 for the hottest consumer electronics device on the market. The entire process required less than five minutes, thanks to Apple’s rather incredible customer service, and mobile point-of-sale devices (ironically, from Motorola/Symbol Technologies) that eliminate customer lines and speed product purchases. Next up, The VAR Guy activated his iPhone and transitioned his existing cell number (from Sprint) to AT&T’s iPhone service. That process also required only a few minutes. Remarkable.

Now, it was decision time. The VAR Guy has thousands of tunes stored on his MacBook Pro. But which set of songs should land first on his iPhone? Reaching back to his youth, The VAR Guy knew there was only one real option: Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.

Once again, it was the ultimate mash-up: A great digital device with great content. And great content, it seems, truly is timeless.