Guess you won't be smashing that iPhone after all

It's only a few hours until the first iPhones go on sale, and I've been reading blog-coverage by my colleagues Phil and Michal reporting from the lines in front of the Apple Stores in SF and Palo Alto (respectively). The photos and anecdotes of eager little consumers, itching to get their hot li'l paws on a precious digi-bauble made me wonder if the dummies from Smash Some Stuff were going to make an appearance. These are the folks who wait in line for hours to be the first to buy the latest must-have electronic product using donated funds, and then smash it, in order to mock... the folks who wait in line for hours to buy the latest must-have product. Their site claims it's a social experiment, but clearly all it has revealed is how many people are willing to donate their own hard-earned money for no apparent reason. I assume they think it's a commentary on hype and consumerism, but there's no hint of that on the page-- there is plenty of spite though:

"We smash game consoles, MP3 players, TV's, and especially the hopes and dreams of fanboy's." [sic]

"Keith and I created the site on December 28, 2005 for the sole purpose of us destroying stuff."

ANYway, turns out that of the $499 they need to fulfill their iPhone-smashing fantasy, helpful suckers have donated only $117.70. And THAT includes $40 donated by the SSS guys themselves. Sorry guys, I guess your supporters have had enough of funding your Beavis-and-Butthead-meet-Gallagher antics.

This plea on the site is especially poignant:

"If someone does donate $400USD, I will be speechless and just give u the destroyed Apple iPhone and a whole lot more too."

Wow!! $400 for a destroyed iPhone?! What a deal!! You'd have to spend a whole hundred dollars more for one that was brand new and still working!!

Perhaps the Stuff Smashers can take some solace that they still out-raised their clone-rivals at smashmyiphone.com, who to date have raised one whole dollar.

Comments

[Jordan Keeling]

Interesting article. We have not raised the funds by launch as you can clearly see. Yet we are still raising funds so that we may still be able to smash the Apple iPhone at a later date.

-Jordan Keeling
-- Founder of SmashSomeStuff

[Ed]

I was hoping to see the iphone reduced to rubble; I'm sad that there will be no video in front of the countless sheep apple zealots crying into their starbucks.. but alas it is what is it. If I had the money I would have done it myself for the pure satisfaction. Cheers to SmashSomeStuff for their other entertaining entries; sad that there is no apple smashing, since their products deserve it the most.

[Al Gore]

Jordan, Ed... You both need lives.

[Jordan]

Al Gore, you need friends.