Where were you seven years ago when Apple introduced the first-generation iPhone to the world?

My friend and I were attending MacWorld Expo 2007 in San Francisco. We did not, however, attend the keynote where Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone. We were poor Apple fanboys with FREE expo passes. We knew something big got announced. We heard plenty of speculation while standing in line to pick up our badges. Until the doors to the expo floor opened, we didn’t know how big the announcement was.

The centerpiece of the expo was an iPhone under a cylinder display case that rotated for everyone to see from all angles. As poor Apple fanboys, we had to wait. Professional photographers and video cameramen for the news media formed around the display case. The tech bloggers rushed in with their cameras. After various strata of Apple nobility took their pictures, we poor Apple fanboys got a chance to gawk at the iPhone.

We crunched the numbers and determined that we couldn’t afford an iPhone in the near future. Even if we could afford the iPhone, paying for the data plan on top of the regular cellphone service was a steep price to pay. Like hyenas watching the lions feast from a distance, we could only wait our turn to own an iPhone someday.

Seven years later, we still can’t afford to get an iPhone.

Not that we’re still poor Apple fanboys. I’m still using my first-generation black MacBook (2006), a first-generation iPod Touch from 2008, and an iPad 2 from 2012. My friend has an assortment of iPads. Although the entry-level iPhone 5C is affordable at $99 USD, the monthly service charges for a two-year contract are still sky-high. That’s hard to justify in an uncertain economy that never seems to end.