Don't want to look bad with your dumbphone? Rent an iPhone for a day!

[farmstache]

I'm tending towards antimustachian because, after all, these guys probably can't afford the iPhone... Here a new 5S goes for R$2200 (U$1000) at the Apple Store. Here goes the full story:

Young people pay up to R$170 (U$80) to rent an iPhone to show off at parties

Marco Aurélio Constantine, 28, rents iPhones for young people who want to show off at parties in Natal (Brazil). It's not enough anymore to look good when you go out at night: now you also need an iPhone to complete your look.

Student Tiago Torres, 21, rented an iPhone 5S for U$80 to go to the local Cow Fest this weekend and is very anxious to check if the smartphone will improve his chances with the girls.

"It's trendy to have an iPhone, but I have other priorities. When I saw the add, I immediately got in touch to make sure I got the reservation. I'm buying new clothes for the Fest, so I'm renting the iPhone to make the look complete and show off, really", said Torres.

(...)
Constantino had the idea two months ago. He posted ads in social networks and soon had people asking and renting. "I used to sell iPhones, but I had two that weren't moving, so I decided to rent them out. The demand was so high I now have 4 devices available. This weekend I'm renting even my own phone and using a dumbphone in the meantime."

The "entrepreneur" tells he earns about U$1000 a month, and people request them more from thursday to sunday. "Lots of people rents them to take that selfie in the mirror at the gym. Lads always come back telling me they managed to get a girl after she saw them taking pictures on the iPhone", he says.

His stock is made of four iPhone 5 and one iPhone 5S, which is mostly rented by women because it's golden. The daily rent for an iPhone 5 is U$50 and for the 5S is U$80.

"My clients have smartphones, but not of trendy brands and usually with less functions. Today I got an extreme exception: a guy who wanted to go to a local party with an iPhone, but he didn't even know how to take pictures. I taught him how and I hope he gets lucky."

(...)

Link (in portuguese, please use chrome to translate the details if you will):
http://tecnologia.uol.com.br/noticias/redacao/2014/10/17/jovens-pagam-ate-r-170-por-aluguel-de-iphone-para-ostentar-na-balada.htm

[MrsPete]

Similar:  Some of my students carry around phones that have been "turned off" -- yes, phones with no service.  A phone is the ultimate status symbol among teens these days. 

[slugline]

Kudos to Mr. Constantine on recognizing the opportunity. That part of the story sounds Mustachian to me.

[Adventine]

This made me laugh. Thank you.

[RFAAOATB]

Do we fault the guys for renting a phone they can't afford to look cool, or fault the target of affection population for falling for it?

What's worse?

Does the phone have the magic or was the magic inside the renters all along?

[farmstache]

The sad part I think is it helps them get girls. What kind of girl are they getting and it's with a status symbol they don't even really own!

It doesn't look good to me.

On the other hand, $80 every few months still beats $1000 every 2 years (after all, status symbols need updating!). :P But if you rent it, say, once a month, you're losing money.

[fantabulous]

I've always jokingly asked if getting an iPhone will make guys interested in me. Guess I should just rent out iPhones instead.

[lifejoy]

LOL!!!! As a "dumphone" owner, this cracks me up!!

[flamingo25]

Haha, another dumb phone owner here. Ridiculous.

[taekvideo]

I only got a smartphone a couple months ago... been wanting one a long time to be able to lookup maps when I can't find something (happens surprisingly often to me... and very inconvienient on a bike)... but that was never enough for me to buy one ($$$$$).
Then fast forward a couple years as technology improves... I found out about freedompop. Spent $120 (plus shipping/tax) for a smartphone and now I'm saving tons compared to my dumbphone with their $0/month plan ^^ (the service isn't as good as Verizon was... but the price is right haha).

I would be very unhappy if I had to go back to a dumbphone... smartphones are a truly brilliant innovation... incredibly useful in so many ways. I could go on in length about it, but if you've never tried one before you don't know what you're missing. My favorite feature is probably the email notifications... no matter where I am or what I'm doing I get notified *instantly* when I get an email. For example (and there are plenty of other examples) there was a critical software bug in my employer's website that I manage which started preventing most users from accessing videos that they'd paid for in the middle of the day on a Sunday. My employer forward a customer complaint email he had received and mentioned that he'd received several others. Thanks to my smartphone I was notified instantly (instead of probably the next day when I got around to checking my email on my pc) and diagnosed and fixed the bug within 20 minutes... needless to say he was very impressed ^^

Must be hell on teachers though... was hard enough keeping kids from playing games on their calculators back when I was in school. All the smartphones must be an even bigger distraction.

And paying $1000 for one that you're going to replace in 2 years is dumber than a dumbphone. And renting one for a day for $80?????!!!!!!!!! They must make a fortune at those profit margins. You could rent a car for cheaper than that lmfao. I can't even... speechless...

Edit:
I think I just had a pretty profound realization. Being exceptionally rational isn't always an advantage like I thought it was. I NEVER would have conceived of the idea of renting out smartphones to people for exorbitant prices. To me the idea is roughly equivalent to charging people $30/month for the privilege of shoving noodles up their nose... complete nonsense. My subconscious would have filtered it out as random noise LONG before it reached my prefrontal cortex. With the years of experience I have tutoring (math) I can understand people less intelligent than me pretty easily.... but irrationality still baffles me.