Every time I walk through Warehouse Stationery (New Zealand's equivalent to Office Depot) or Dick Smith's Electronics (pretty much Best Buy), I'm struck by how probably half the products in each store are pretty much useless to me since I've got an iPhone.

Thanks to the apps that come pre-packaged with the iPhone and the more than 100,000 third-party offerings now available in the iTunes Store, the iPhone has gained functionality that might have seemed hard to fathom under three years ago when Steve Jobs first announced the device.

"A widescreen iPod with touch controls... a revolutionary mobile phone... a breakthrough internet communications device... these are not three separate devices. This is one device." So Steve Jobs told us all back at Macworld Expo 2007. But since then, the iPhone has grown to be much more than just those three concepts.

What follows is a sort of anti-buyer's guide, a list of products and devices that you may never need or even want to buy again (or receive as a gift) if you have an iPhone. Some of these are certainly open for debate, but more than a few of them are products that, for all intents and purposes, are completely unnecessary if you have an iPhone. (Items in bold also apply to the iPod touch).

It looks like the new Mac rumor mill is starting to grind again, as several web sites are reporting that Apple is close to releasing updates to several parts of the product line. Joachim noted the rumors on the 24th, and here's an update.

The first rumor is something I've personally been waiting for -- an update to the iMac line. French Mac site Mac4Ever [translation] is citing tips indicating that a new iMac, possibly quad-core powered, is in the works for a possible release before the holiday season. Like the MacBook Pro line, the new iMac would feature an SD card reader. There's also the thought that a high-end iMac could even pack in a Xeon processor. AppleInsider also thinks an iMac boost is in the works, although they're not speculating on quad-core or Xeon processors, and even reports that a new, slimmer design has been churning off Taiwanese assembly lines for the past two weeks.

While a bump to the iMac line would be nice, I personally think that Apple would concentrate on reducing the cost of manufacturing to maintain their margins while making it possible to reduce prices to consumers. This could help Apple's share of the personal computer market continue to climb while keeping Wall Street analysts happy.

The second rumor, also from AppleInsider, points to a less expensive and slimmer white polycarbonate MacBook. If Apple is able to reduce the price of the low-end laptop below its current US$999 level, it could stem the tide of sales of low-cost Windows and Linux netbooks.

Regardless of what actually happens, design updates to these two lines are long overdue. The iMac has essentially been the same since August of 2007, while the MacBook has remained unchanged since May of 2006. It should be fun to see what Jonathan Ive, Steve Jobs, and the tireless Apple engineers who design this equipment have in store for us.

[Original photo credit: © Glenn Francis, www.PacificProDigital.com, through Wikimedia Commons]