We interrupt this blog for a commercial break! And by commercial break, I mean, a focus on something very commercial.
The iPhone released today–and no, I didn’t buy it (I have an aversion to buying technical things when they first come out–I’ll wait a few months, thank you very much)…but I did watch its release with great intrigue. What would the lines look like? Who among my friends would go buy one?
According to the news, the lines at some stores, such as the ones in Manhattan, began days ago. Hrm. Intriguing. We drove by the Apple store closest to us, and it was empty and void of lines last night, even though there were plastic cones and ribbons clearly marking a winding line, ala Disneyland.
Never fear, the lines began forming this morning. Steve Wozniak, the cofounder of Apple himself, was first in line at the Apple store in the Valley Fair mall–he was there at 4:00am PST. The lines were 50 people long at most Bay Area Apple stores by mid-day. The phone’s “hawtness” spread like fever–people at work left early to go stand in line at either an Apple store or a Cingular store. Anyone on the fence about whether they wanted one, had hopped over and run to get one by the end of the workday.
No. They couldn’t wait for it to be ordered online. They had to have it TODAY! And before the stores potentially ran out!
Would Apple run out of iPhones at its stores?
We wondered. We walked by a Cingular store, where its employees stood, looking exhausted outside the doors. Did you run out of iPhones today? Yes, they said, a long time ago. They had 60 in stock. Go to the Apple store if you want one!
“How many does the Apple store have in stock?” we asked.
“A thousand!”
And so we walked over to the Apple store–still we asked ourselves, would Apple run out of iPhones at its stores?
Nope. We went by the store (where the employees stood and applauded (and high fived) each customer as they entered the store in a gauntlet)…it was late, less than an hour before closing time. I needed a camera (mine broke today), and we were the only ones not buying an iPhone, nor interested in looking at one. The store practically didn’t know what to do with us–in fact, the floor plan was strictly geared towards iPhone purchases…and so they led us to a secluded corner to conduct our camera purchase.
The scene was marvelous–incredibly diverse in age, etchnicity, gender, etc., etc. Everyone was buying an iPhone. And then it dawned on me–every one of the people here was plunking down $600 for an iPhone. SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS.
So–I asked the guy ringing up our purchase. How many do you have here? He looked at us and said “A LOT.”
“A thousand?” I asked, knowingly.
“No,” he said with a face that said he was totally awe stricken by the amount they did have in the back of the store. “I can’t count–we just have a lot. We didn’t want to be like the Wii where people waited in line and still didn’t get one. We have plenty!” His eyes went wide.
So there you have it. The Apple stores have “a lot” of iPhones, and they haven’t run out.
I came home, logged into flickr, and was flooded with pictures of friends purchasing iPhones. The world of the cellular phone has changed forever.