So...this morning I stood in line again for an iPhone. Am I being masochistic? Do I really not have anything better to do with my time?
These were some of the nagging questions chattering in my mind that I squelched as I stood in line hoping to get an iPhone.
I decided to try my luck at the Apple Store because they stood a better chance of having everything in stock and their employees seemed nicer and smarter. When I got to the store a half hour before opening, the line was even longer at opening time than it was the first day. After the first hour of waiting in line, my mind did a big "What are you doing wasting another 3-4 hours? Just wait a week and there will be no line! There's no guarantee that you'll even get an iPhone!" I justified that if I left now, that would be completely wasting a full hour. If I stuck it through, I would at least make the waiting worth it.
I was visited by Jeff and Scout, then Kevin, and finally David. I waited in line a bit over 4 hours. I won't say the time went by quickly, but it didn't feel quite as bad as four hours.
The final line is on the second floor. They let 6 people go up to the second floor at a time, where you wait for an agent. Luckily, David showed up right as I was given the pass to go upstairs, so he got the fun of the purchase without the pain of the waiting. There really is something to be said for waiting for something for 4 hours. By the time I ascended the glass stairs, I felt like I was entering heaven (although getting an iPhone was feeling a lot more difficult than getting into heaven). In a couple of minutes, a sales agent came over and introduced herself.
Her name was Erica. She smiled. She asked me how long the wait had been. She said that they're getting better - yesterday it was an average of 7 hours wait. She only asked me a few questions and then went to get my iPhone. Gone was the disarray of AT&T, the confusing responses that the computer wouldn't let my order go through, the general dismissal of my needs. I got the sense that Erica was going to get me an iPhone no matter what. She was looking out for me. We chit-chatted about the neighborhood. Her cousin has crashed on her futon for the past week. Erica was cool.
I asked her how the system was going to transfer my phone number over. Didn't she need to switch my SIM card? She had only asked my name and phone number. How could it figure out who I was? She walked over to a Mac, plugged in the iPhone, and two text messages to me from Jeff came up on the iPhone. It found me already. I couldn't figure out if I should be creeped out or amazed. Where were the 2 hour activation times I had been hearing about? This was instantaneous. Sara got her iPhone at AT&T over 24 hours earlier and it had still not activated.
Erica kept talking politely at this point and was holding my iPhone (it was now mine. - mine mine mine - gimmee gimmee). I was trying to be polite, but really, I wanted to snatch it out of her hands. David kept up the conversation as I stared intently at my iPhone. Eventually, she gestured in a way that could have been interpreted as offering me the phone and I grabbed it. She wished us well and went on to make someone else's day.
When we descended the lucite stairs to leave, I felt like I had to leave the place with a smile. I had seen so many people leaving the AT&T store disgruntled. I owed it to the people still standing in line (hundreds of them, in fact), that yes, there is an iPhone at the end of their journey and it will be worth it. I beamed a smile. I cheered. It turns out the people in line didn't care about me at all, but the other employees cheered with me and opened the door for us to leave.
I've been playing with it for a few hours. I can't explain what's so great about it, but it's the coolest gadget I'ver ever owned. What's so great about it? Everything. Every little detail makes you go "neat!" and "wow!" and "they've thought of everything!"
That's what's so great about Apple products, they inspire this weird possessive/personal/devotion response to electronic devices. You can almost hear yourself saying to the Gods of Apple: "You can make me wait in lines for ever and I'll still be there for you."
