Finance Roll

As far as clever businesspeople are concerned, Steve Jobs is at the top of the new CEO heap. After all, he's a man whose company once asked him to please leave after green-lighting projects that didn't quite work out, only to beg him to return and re-launch their products. He definitely knows something about innovation, and because of this, it's no surprise at all that his savvy and know-how was behind the latest hugely successful Apple product: its fantastic iPhone.

When it comes to keeping up with the Joneses, these days the struggle is more about electronic devices than fancy new sports cars or other more opulent and over-the-top purchases. And this is where devices like the smartphones Mac sells come into play. Plenty of people out there were swept up in the wave of needing to upgrade to a smartphone, one that could make calls and order pizza through a free App. But when the Apple Stores managed to sell iPhone 3Gs in record numbers, the company itself was working on making big changes. And the big changes meant rolling out a new model as soon as possible, one that would be even better than the third generation version.

For anyone who is serious about gadgetry, an Apple announcement is a striking blow and a sign of the future. There are entire corners of the world wide web devoted to the exquisite pain and pleasure that comes with knowing that Steve Jobs just made a current device, probably one that is bringing the information in the first place, moderately irrelevant. And since Apple managed to sell iPhone 3Gs so quickly, it's no wonder that the 4G model would be flying off the shelves just as quickly. The only trouble is that for anyone who wanted to ditch the old and get with the new, the price tag made the choice a bit more difficult. With a shaky economy, after all, the impulse buy is a bit more difficult to pull off than it might have been just years ago.

The easiest solution to make getting on board with the latest model a reality, not just a dream for tech-savvy commuters and those who simply enjoy great design? Becoming entrepreneurial, too. Because it's not just Apple that can peddle their smartphones: anyone can sell iPhone 3Gs that they were once using to finance the change to a newer model. Whether it's putting a phone up for auction on eBay or simply talking to friends and seeing who needs a new phone, figuring out a way to make some money back to invest in the latest Apple toy is a breeze.

Even those who are using phones that might not work as smoothly do not have to fret: it's possible to sell a broken smartphone to someone who is only buying them for parts, and then to know that an old phone is actually powering multiple others from the same generation. It's definitely a step in the right direction, where consumers are able to help each other out while helping themselves, too.