Waited Long Enough

I couldn’t take it anymore! For years, I had fantasized about a device that would allow me to communicate, inform, and stay entertained, but would fit in my pocket. Way back in 1994, I was excited by the prospects for Apple’s Newton PDA. Even though it was a bit vague, I did love using it. I think we still have two or three of them hiding in a closet somewhere.

It saddened me when a struggling Apple Computer stopped making them. I never gave up hope that the company would one day revisit the concept of a handheld computer.

In the interim, I busied myself with poor substitutes, like a series of Palm Pilots, followed by a couple of Treos (at one point I was tempted by a Blackberry, but never succumbed). Finally, in frustration I gave up on handheld computing and bought a regular cell phone.

Then, in about 2004, rumors started flying around the web about a mysterious new product from Apple. There was talk of a Macintosh tablet computer, or maybe just a micro Mac with a folding keyboard. A few crazy people even went so far as to fear eyes that Apple could be working on a device combining the iPod with a cell phone.

Even Steve Jobs dismissed these insane ideas as mere wishful thinking (in the same way he pooh-poohed the idea of watching video on a handheld device). I continued to hold out hope, thinking that I couldn’t possibly be the only person on the planet who wanted a phone combined with my iPod (I even occasionally dared dream that such a device might include e-mail and a web browser).

Then in 2006, the rumors of an iPhone began springing up all over the Internet. There were plenty of naysayers, claiming that such a device would be too bulky, complex, or expensive. Others said that, even if Apple did come up with such a device, it could never be called the iPhone, as that name was already taken.

 Finally, in January of 2007, Steve Jobs announced that Apple was getting into the smart phone business with a new product called, yes, the iPhone. If I recall correctly, it seems like Cisco immediately filed suit over Apple’s use of its trademark.

I didn’t care what they called it. I only knew that I wanted one. Now! The only problem, they weren’t yet available. So, I couldn’t make the impulsive $600 purchase just yet.

The next six months seem to crawl by as I read every bit of information I could find on the new iPhone. The more I read and the longer I thought about it, the more patient I became. I decided instead to get my feet wet with an iPod Touch, which I purchased right after it was released last summer.

While I was a bit envious of my friends, family, and associates when they whipped out their shiny new iPhone and dashed off a quick e-mail, I took some solace in the fact that not only did they pay a lot, they were also forced to use AT&T’s creaky old EDGE network. Plus, with every month that passed my Verizon termination fee declined by five dollars.

Fast-forward to the spring of 2008. The new iPhone is about to be released. With my birthday coming up in June, I dropped the occasional hint to my wife about the perfect gift. When she questioned my impulsiveness, I remind her that I did wait for one full year. After a steady stream of gentle badgering, she finally relented. However, I couldn’t be among the first in line on Friday, July 11, as that was the day we had to pick our daughter up from summer camp. Darn it! I guess she is a bit more important than a really cool piece of technology.

We arrived back in Florida on Saturday, July 12. That night, I went to Apple’s website and discovered that both of our local stores still had the new iPhone in stock. I planned to arrive at the mall early the next morning. As is often the case, I ran late.

When I arrived, I was thrilled to see that there wasn’t a line snaking out into the parking lot. Finding a parking place, I hopped out and briskly walked through the mall’s glass doors, along with a stream of others that I was sure were on the same mission. I sped up my pace and passed them as unobtrusively as possible. As I rounded the corner, there was the line.

From the store’s entrance, it wound down, back up, and then down again. Stepping through the only gap between polls, I joined the queue. Right behind me, those clutches of people I passed did the same.

After observing the line for a few minutes and try to get a rough count, it seemed to me to be a reasonable length. I figured it couldn’t take more then, say, a couple of hours. Boy, was I wrong!

After waiting patiently for about fifteen minutes (all the while listening to music from my iPod touch) a perky young woman came to my section of the line and informed us that we might not get an iPhone today. In the best case scenario, we might not get the phone of our choice (she said they had a lot more 8 GB units than there were 16 GB). She promised regular updates on the situation.

Back to the music for me. At first, the line moved rather briskly. We were making headway. I grew more excited. After about an hour of moving steadily forward, the line’s progress slowed to a stall. It occurred to me that we might have been moving forward so quickly because people were closing the gaps in the queue.

With every update from the pleasant Apple employee, my chances of getting a 16 GB iPhone looked better and better, even if the line was barely moving. However, my original wait time estimate was beginning to look massively optimistic.

By this time I had removed my earphones, and was beginning to bond with my neighbors in line. After all, we had a lot in common. We were all feeling a bit foolish for waiting so long for a piece of technology. We all shared a mutual admiration for the quality of the product we hope to buy. Plus, we had waited too long to go home empty-handed.

It was almost 5 PM on Sunday when I finally made it to the front of the line. From within the store, a young woman with a portable point of sale terminal walked out to greet me and escorted me into the store. I was shocked to discover that I knew her. She’d gone to high school with my children.

Cheerfully and very quickly, she entered all of my pertinent information in her little handheld terminal. I was transferring my Verizon number over to AT&T, and was concerned that the process might take a while. It didn’t! My account was approved, as was the porting of my number.

The moment I have been waiting for was here! She was actually going to the back of the store to grab one of those beautiful boxes that contain my long-awaited iPhone. After showing it to me (in the box), she started to put it into one of those new bags Apple had made for the occasion. Before slipping it all the way into the bag, she turned and asked, “Would you like me to activate it for you?” I responded affirmatively, as I wanted to start using it right away.

We walked over to one of the Mac books on display, plugged my iPhone in, and fired up in iTunes. There they were. Those colorful glowing icons against that slate black background. Gorgeous! Disconnecting it from the dock, I cradled the comfortably rounded surface in my hand, thanked her for her help, said my goodbyes to all of those I had met in line, and headed for home with my new toy.

Back in the mall, I turned the corner and was heading for the exit. Realizing that this new toy had all kinds of cool tools, including a camera, I reversed course, went back around the corner, and took my first iPhone picture. My long-suffering peers were still waiting for their opportunity to get their new iPhone (see the top of the page). I hoped they weren’t disappointed.