Really, its either Singaporeans have too much money, or the phone companies have put some voodoo spell on the wide-eyed consumers who flock to their stores like bees to honey.
The mobile phone market is booming here to say the least. And in a recent global survey, I tink the penetration rate of these hand-held devices on our little island is about, what, in excess of 99%? Which means that almost every single person here has one.
But in this day and age, I'm not complaining about the ubiquitousness of it all. Just how the people here change phones like they do underwear.
I mean, how else would you explain the hordes at every mobile phone shop in town and the mushrooming of like a gazillion small-time second-hand dealers in the suburban towns. Last night when I bought a new phone to replace my dying 'incumbent', there was a long queue behind me even at 2200hrs at night in a really obscure part of the island. And I mean really obscure =))
So is it a sign of technological progression or an omen of sociological regression? When everyone tries to keep up with the Joneses, at least where new designs and features are concerned. I am not saying that we should all go back to the 'dark-ages' of the Motorola Brick, but to change mobiles every 3-6 months? That is something the phone companies would really want you to do while they laugh themselves silly to the bank.
Perhaps this obsession with mobile phones disguises a deeper lacking or a need to fill some collective void here, where a culture of competition and 1st-is-best is so prevalent.
Whatever it is, I am no Sociologist. But for a short time yesterday, I did indeed indulge in the short-lived joys of owning a new mobile. Of course out of pure neccessity and it just 'so happens' to be the slimmest baby in town.....for now! =P
