Weekend reading: Got that iPhone edition

My weekly commentary followed by my weekend news and blog links round-up.

Back in July I explained I was buying an iPhone in a post about how denying things can actually damage your wealth (within reason!)

My millions of fans You obviously took it literally, because iPhones had become gold dust in the UK by the time I got around to buying one.

O2 hasn’t had any for weeks — I suspect because Vodafone and others are being stocked up ahead of their rumoured October iPhone launches, although some say they’ll only get old models.

Anyway, I eventually got mine from the Apple store; the last 32GB model left in London that day!

There were other hassles, and on activation my phone even turned German until I slapped it about a bit. Nobody wants to see that. It made me realise how easy I find it to save money because shopping is such a pain in the neck.

Now I’ve got my iPhone though, I can report it’s just as lovely as everyone says.

The interface is beautiful, it all just works, and the way you can download applications and have them running in seconds is fantastic.

It’s light and day compared to other phones. The Blackberry is the only thing I’ve ever seen live up to the mobile computing hype, and even that can’t really browse the Internet.

As for other handsets from Nokia and the like, they supposedly enable you to read web pages or check your email or download time-wasting games but have you ever tried? It’s like teaching your dog to juggle.

The iPhone reminds me of the introduction of Web browsers in 1991. Before the Mosaic browser, the Internet was a geeky paradise of arcane codes and hidden conversations. Overnight it went mainstream.

iPhone has done that for mobile multimedia and gives a real glimpse of the shape of things to come.

I’ll discuss some of the investing-related apps I’ve already downloaded in a future post. For now though, let’s crack on with this week’s reading.

Some interesting financial blog posts

• Do check out my Money Energy guest post on buying UK stocks for income if you’re in the US or Canada. Part two coming next week.

• Mike at Oblivious Investor doesn’t like debt-fueled investment any more than I do.

• Behaviour Gap has been musing about the nature of risk.

• Wealth Pilgrim, meanwhile, muses on Hulk Hogan’s divorce.

• The Dividend Guy believes ETF marketing is hurting investors.

• Richard Beddard’s six cheap companies posted on the iii blog scare me, but that’s why they’re cheap!

• A guest post at Get Rich Slowly looks at boosting retirement funds.

• The Financial Services Clubs’ blog alerted me to my Zopa experiences being cited in an FT blog comment thread debate.

The pick of the weekend newspapers and sites

• Anthony Bolton explains why you have to expect the unexpected with the stock market. (FT)

• I happen to agree that tech shares could be one of the big opportunities of the decade. (FT)

• US jobless rate hits 26-year high, but the rate of job losses is down. Personally, I think more people are looking for work again as the economy picks up — a good sign. (BBC)

• The seven sins mapped across America on a per capita basis — beautiful graphs (Wired) (Via Fabulously Broke)
  

• HSBC has launched a 1.99% discount mortgage, but fees are high and you need a big deposit (BBC)
  

• You can now get 6.25% on regular savings with the Buckinghamshire Building Society. No need to tie into other products. (The Telegraph)

• One for UK traders: The Plus market has now started dealing in AIM shares, which could threaten the AIM market‘s future (The Independent)
  

• Finally, the EU fiddles while tuna vanishes. Listen, I love sashimi as much as the Japanese. But eating it in the future requires banning tuna sales now until stocks and management improve. (Independent)

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