I’ve been wibbling back and forth on whether to get a v1 iPhone. My main reason against was uncertainty about the EDGE networking speed and my feeling that that v2 would be released quickly with 3G networking for the European market. After Steve’s comments about 3G chipsets being power hogs and “not quite mature”, I doubt that a 3G iPhone will be out this year. My reason for an iPhone is that my current basic Motorola has had numerous problems that have been escalating—random lack of sound is the most recent issue, so I need a new phone of some kind.
I got to the Palo Alto Apple store about 7pm and was surprised by the scrum of onlookers crowding the footpath outside the store. Apple had setup the iPhone line so that it snaked through the store, out the door and up a side street. Turns out that Steve Jobs had made an appearance hence the crowd outside. By 7:05pm I had a pair of iPhones. It turns out that buying an iPhone on launch day is easier than finding a parking space in Palo Alto on Friday night. It took until 7:15 for the girlfriend to find a space.
As I was browsing the accessories waiting for Nadyne to finish parking, the Apple staff started hooting and giving each other high-fives… they had just cleared the line for the first time. With about 16 checkout points operating and probably another 20 staff bagging the phones and doing crowd control they were doing brisk trade. I expected to be waiting in line for at least 30 minutes, more likely an hour or so. I wonder how this compares to Apple’s first day expectations.
One of the first iPhone buyers at this store was a young woman who promptly walked out of the store and smashed the iPhone on the sidewalk as a comment on commercialism. Just after buying my own iPhone I noticed the same woman walking by with an iPhone bag with a sealed iPhone box inside. A friend asked her whether she planned on smashing that one. Her response was that “the first one was a comment on commercialism” [paraphrased]. It left me wondering how much of a comment you can really make on commercialism when you end up taking your symbol of commercialism home with you.
