You wouldn’t think that a reasonably intelligent chap like me would be stupid enough to make the same mistake twice, would you? But no. Yet again, I’ve missed out on the launch of Apple‘s latest gadget. First it was the iPad, when I dithered over my pre-order and eventually had to wait until two weeks after launch to receive mine. (It’s been well worth the wait, mind you.)

And now today I’ve gone and done it by missing out on the new iPhone 4. I foolishly volunteered to drop Zac at nursery this morning, and by the time I got down to the O2 store in Newbury about ten minutes after they had opened, the queue was already about 30 people long and the staff had just put out a board declaring they had sold out of their initial allocation. I tried Carphone Warehouse, but no luck there either.

Oh well.

I have to say, although I’m still desperate to get my hands on a new iPhone for all manner of reasons – and was kicking myself mentally all the way into work this morning as a result – my disappointment level is not as high as it was with the iPad. Whereas the iPad has created its own niche in my life by making it so much easier for me to consume, share and (to an extent) create media, the iPhone is merely an upgrade – admittedly a very cool one – of an existing tool. So the prospect of waiting a few more weeks for Apple to replenish their retail stocks is not something I’m going to lose much sleep over.

Now if I just repeat that mantra to myself often enough, I might even start to believe it.