Sure, it may seem that the iPhone is a pricey electronic at $499 or $599 depending on the model for a 15-year-old, but all it takes to get one, other than convincing parents, is NOT to spend on a new pair of denim jeans, kicks, T-shirt, or MP3 Player. Thus, the growing impact electronics and technology are having on fashion these days. When iPhone drops this Friday, June 29th, you can bet that the savviest consumers of cell phones in general will make up a large percentage of new buyers, and that means young people who are not necessarily the rich and famous. It also means an impact to non-AT&T users as iPhone has chosen AT&T to be the sole telecom carrier (so far).

As indicated in our North American and European Youth Culture Studies, iPod, when it first came out, was the #1 must-have electronic device for about a year until more people got them. They quickly passed Laptop Computers, Cell Phones, and Digital Cameras—all hot items in terms of electronic must-haves among 13-25-year-olds in less than 12 months. iPhone, with its new features, may be the same thing, which of course we’ll measure with results in our Fall Report of the North American Youth Culture Study coming out in September.

Interestingly, Apple has created such a strong cultural following with their iPod and ingeniously colorful music campaign and billboards, not to mention their Apple vs. PC commercials (see also Label Networks’ Sponsorship + Advertising Effectiveness Report in Youth Culture), that iPhone barely has to advertise to get anyone’s attention. Blogs are going off about the anticipation for this Friday, not to mention new blogs (iPhonefreak, EverythingiPhone) that have been created solely around the iPhone itself. Some of these blogs are giving savvy advice, such as best ways to camp-out in front of the stores before they go on sale, and what to bring in your survival kit for long nights waiting for store openings.

The iPhone comes with a video player, camera, web browser, music player, and phone, but we’re still wondering about its text messaging capabilities. This, given its touch finger screen controls, may be the only downfall. As more young people use their cell phones for texting rather than calls, phones that ergo dynamically cater to this factor are going to be the winners in the future, no matter how cool the music player is. Right now, to text you have to hit the touchpad screen, so it may be far more difficult to manage than a keyboard that’s physical.

Check back for more news on performance from a youth culture perspective soon.