Earlier this week, my wife asked me to run down to the nearby Dollar General store to pick up a loaf of bread. I jumped into the car and headed that way.
As I neared the store, which is roughly a half mile from our house, I realized I did not have my wallet. Darn!
Then I realized I had my iPhone, and Dollar General accepts Apple Pay.
No wallet. No problem.
I ran into the store, grabbed a couple loaves of bread and headed to the checkout where I payed with the magic of no-touch Apple Pay and my iPhone.
I’ve become a huge Apple Pay fan. I will choose Target over, say, Walmart, because not only does Target offer a nicer shopping environment it also accepts Apple Pay.
Anyway, this got me to thinking about all the handy tools the iPhone (and others Smart Phones, I assume) offer that remind me of the versatility of a Swiss Army Knife.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found myself carrying something to the trash bin on the side of our house late at night in pitch black without light to aid navigation. But now, I touch the flashlight on the iPhone and I’m guided to and from the bin without tripping over anything.
There are so many other examples. Counting steps when I’m walking. Sending emergency funds on the spot to a child in need in a faraway place. Downloading and reading free books from the library. Sending a Subway gift card to a child in need in a faraway place. Ordering an Uber and watching the progress of the arriving car on a map. Receiving and reading lab results ordered by my doctor. Pointing the phone to the sky and seeing information about the type of aircraft and destination of a flight overhead. Pointing the screen at yourself and taking a selfie.
Oh, and making a phone call. I could go on and on.
When Steve Jobs introduced the iPod from a San Francisco stage in 2007, he said “today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone.”
It did.
Watch Jobs’ introduction of the device.
With the emergence of iPhone and the many apps dreamed up by developers, the concept of the Smart Phone has washed over so many areas of our lives. It changed telecommunications and it changed how we live. I think for the better.
That’s why the iPhone IS the Swiss Army Knife of communication.
Jim Stafford's BlogOKC 