I have a friend who bought a new device recently. It’s not important what the device is, but you’ll probably read between the lines.

The device, made by a hot gadget-, computer- and phone-maker, came as a bit of a surprise to consumers. Unlike other gadgets that were announced during previous mega-events, this one kind of snuck in the back door.

Besides surprising consumers with very little fanfare, the non-eventful announcement also surprised makers of cases and other accessories that like to time their time-to-market with the unveiling of the gadget.

So, with gadget in-hand on the day it came out, he had nothing to wrap it in. No one, I mean, no one, had a case ready for it. It appears it came as such a surprise that no accessory-maker had a product in the pipeline. So it was an agonizing 48 hours — yes, that’s an eternity anymore — until a halfway suitable case appeared on Amazon.com. So, he snagged the first thing. And, he snagged it fully knowing he would need to buy a more formidable case — whenever that case was unveiled. So, it’s been more than two weeks now and coverage for this particular device is still lacking — very lacking.

What’s my point? There’s nothing more agonizing than needing or wanting something and you can’t have access to it. Here he was, money ready in-hand, eagerly wanting to spend it but not being able to buy what he wanted.

When my friend relayed his woes, I was reminded of the famous scene from “Glengarry Glen Ross,” where a hot-shot salesman played by Alec Baldwin is brought in to berate a group of salesmen whose numbers were sagging: “Get out there. You got the prospects coming in. You think they came in to get out of the rain? A guy don’t walk on the lot lest he wants to buy. They’re sitting out there, waiting to give you their money.”