And I wonder why things seem so complicated these days.....

I Love the Internet. There, I said it, and I'm sure it won't come as a surprise to any of my friends to know that this is true. Occasionally however, I am bemused, and agitated at how our lives, which if you read the small print, should be getting simpler, are so ridiculously complicated these days. And I wonder if the good old interweb isn't to blame.

Case in point. Sunday saw the last breath of my trusty (?) iPhone 3G. Over the last 18 months I've dropped it so many times I've lost count, but the fall from my pocket to the concrete floor by the barbecue was just too much, and the screen and case smashed into lots of little pieces. I was a little dismayed, but it's recent poor performance since the OS4 update was driving me nuts anyway, so I wasn't too upset. Other than the inconvenience of not having a phone for a few days, I'll be honest and say that I was already rubbing my hands at the prospect of a shiny new iPhone 4......

Right up until the time I visited our local Vodafone retailer that is.......

They eagerly wrote me a letter to say that they had checked, and yes, the phone was beyond repair, and provided me with a quote for $1099 NZD to replace it with an iPhone 4. Having initially only paid $549 NZD for the phone from the Vodafone online store for the 3G, I queried the cost of the replacement, and the salesman explained that the original cost of the handset is subsidised when you first sign up to a plan (which I knew already I suppose). And obviously comparing an iPhone 3G against and iPhone 4 isn't a fair comparison anyway, so I happily accepted the quote, knowing that my insurance company would hopefully pay for it anyway.

All was going well right up until the point where I asked the salesman if they had an iPhone 4 in stock, and whether I could come back tomorrow to get one. He then proceeded to explain that, even though they had iPhone 4 posters throughout the store, and had just quoted me for a replacement, that they couldn't sell me one as "at the moment they are only available from the online store". Having dealt with the Vodafone store previously, alarm bells started ringing.

So later in the day, I get confirmation that the insurance company have approved the claim, and that I should go shopping for a new iPhone, and send them the bill, minus the $250 excess. I go to the Vodafone online store as directed, to find that the iPhone 4 is only available to buy with a new iPhone data plan. But I've already got a data plan, I just want to buy a replacement handset for the one I broke on Sunday. But I can't do it. I can go to the Apple online store and buy one, but it's $25 more expensive, and I have no idea whether it will work on Vodafone, and no idea how I can get my existing number put onto a MicroSIM (which the iPhone 4 uses) without going through Vodafone. I call Vodafone, who tell me to go into my local retailer........

Familiar circles. By now, I should be used to it. But for someone who spends his life championing the internet, this is the increasingly all too familiar situation I find myself in. Local retail is disspearing because it can't compete with the web, but the web falls short when it comes to physicality and flexibility. I understand the reasons behind it all, and I find it frustrating. I can't begin to imagine how the average day to day joe public gets on. Maybe that's the problem.

So. Day 2. Vodafone store here we go again..........