Picking out your first guitar might seem to be a simple task. You decide if you want to go electric or acoustic and buy one….right? Well, it really is not quite that simple.
You do need to decide whether you want to go with an electric guitar, or an acoustic. With an acoustic guitar, you can play anywhere. You can take an acoustic guitar to the beach, or play on a street corner and make some extra cash. 
With an electric guitar, you will need…well…electricity. You need an amp to hear it. So with an electric, you lose portability. One of the attractions of owning an electric guitar is that you can buy signal processors and effects pedals. The technology available for electric guitars today is amazing.
When I first told my parents that I wanted to learn to play the guitar, I don’t think they believed that I really would stick with it. They made me agree to take lessons and bought me a cheap department store guitar. I stuck with the lessons and developed a passion for playing. I had huge calouses on the end of my fingers due to the cheap guitar. I now own a Gibson Les Paul. The calouses are gone, but the passion is still there.
The point that I am trying to make here is that many people would have gotten, and probably have gotten, discouraged due to cheap guitars that are hard to play. You can get a fairly nice mid range guitar for not a lot of money. Also, the cheaper guitars are hard to keep in tune. The best advice is to go to your local music store and have one of the staff assist you in getting the most bang for your buck. Let them know that you are just starting out and they will guide you in the right direction.
Also, make sure that you pick the guitar that will allow you to play the type of music that interests you. If you want to play heavy metal, an acoustic guitar is probably not going to make you happy. However, if you are more interested in country, or slower genres, then an acoustic guitar might fit the bill better. Just make sure that you pay attention to your tastes in music. This is just a starting point. If you stick with it, you will own more than one guitar anyway.
The important thing is to have fun!