Journey To iPhone UPDATE

P really wanted a iPhone. So we set out to get one. Since I know every AT&T store was getting 40-80 for launch, while every Apple store was getting 1500 to 3000 for launch. We decided to see what the odds are. At 2PM, called the Polaris AT&T store, yes the same one with the three creepy guys camping out on the night of the 28th, found out there were 20 people waiting in line. Called Apple store, found out there were 80 people waiting in line. The choice was obvious.

We arrived at Easton at 3:30PM. By that point, there were about 100 people in front of us. The Sun was beating down on us. Apple employees brought out bottled waters for everyone in line. Shortly after we got there, a news caster from Channel 4 came to fim the event. She went straight to the end of the line, which is the lady right behind us. We were both like "Oh god no, please don't let us be on TV". Turns out the lady behind us were coming here to get one for her husband's 50th birthday. It was a surprise gift.

There were also some very smart business people. P.F. Chang had their waitress running up and down the line, offering to take order and deliver food. Too bad their food sucks. :) There were also people from COSI selling coffee and smoothies. I was like, "uh, it's sunny, it's 87 degree, hot coffee? Not so much". By this point, P was getting sun burned. So she went to buy Sun Blocks while I wait in line. (She forgot to bring it). The weirdest solication had to be the two ladies from Kay Jewelers who went up and down the line wanting to sell you membership to their very "exclusive" diamond club. We did take COSI up on the "buy one smoothies get one free" offer though.

By 5:30, the line begin to move. There were about 250 people in line at this point. It's kind of funny. People would walk by, and go "What's the line for?" Someone would say "iPhone", and they would suddenly have expression of understanding.

They promptly started letting people in at 6PM. They were letting in about 30-40 people at a time. It was very orderly. I think we were in the 5th group. We walk up to the store, the two cops open the door for you. You walk in, every employee claps and cheers to welcome you to this event. You head straight to the genius bar in the back right away for the iPhone purchase. A bunch of employees that know us, were all like "Hey, you are here for the accessories right?" The transaction process itself was quite fast. You walk up, tell them what you want. They grab it for you. Every employee is equipped with a hand held credit card terminal. You slide the card, and give them your email address. The receipt go straight to the email. There is no paper involved. The signing also takes place on the hand held terminal itself as well. We bought two iPhones in less than 1 minute. Yes, TWO. I'm weak, and succumbed to the crowed frenzy. Or as the breaking news in Japan says, "The iPhone mania."

Went home very fast to charge and activate the iPhone. I let P go first. Since there was some issues with my appleid. You need one to activate iPhone via iTunes 7.3. She went the number porting route. She completed the request, then it was my turn. For me, I'm just replacing my Sony w810i with iPhone. So I click a few "OKs", and my iPhone started working.

Sadly, things didn't go as smoothly for P. She is in the number porting limbo hell. Aka $600 iPhone paper weight. I try not to taunt her too much, but I think I'm getting a F in that effort.

I did come home to a bunch of IMs of "Did you get it? Does it work yet? Can I play with it when I see you next?". Also, at 11:38 PM, I did send out a mass notice to inform people that my AT&T line is now my primary cell phone. So basically, got the phone at 6:30PM. Finished charging at 10PM. By 10:30 PM, I have a working iPhone. By 11:30 PM, all clients and friends know I have one. :)

This is the first US phone several friends in Japan said "How come this doesn't work in Japan and we can't get one yet?" It's about time.

Took a bunch of photos, will post them later.

UPDATE: Here is the link to the photos.

Free iPhone For All Apple Employees

So this morning, at Apple's company meeting. Jobs announced that all Apple full time employees will be getting a free 8GB iPhone as a happy 4th gift. If you are a part timer, as long as you've worked for Apple for 1 year, you will get one too.

How about that for a meeting? Go to meeting, get a iPhone. I know a bunch of friends there were going to get in line for the iPhone. Saves them some effort and $$$.

Begun iPhone Camping Has

We just stopped by the AT&T store at Polaris. Guess what? 3 guys sitting in their lawn chairs, waiting for iPhone to be sold tomorrow at 6PM.

No, I didn't take any pictures. Frankly, they look kind of creepy.

Sony CEO Claims 42 Games A Month Every Month

At Sony's 90th general shareholders meeting in Tokyo, CEO Kaz Hirai announce there will be 380 PlayStation 3 games available by March 2008. 200 of them will be retail titles. 180 are download only from Playstation store. Hmm, 380 games in 9 month. That's 42 game a month. Considering that PS3 had only two games released for the month of May. I'm going to go out on a limp and say "Not gonna happen!"

Impulse Buy

Two Fridays ago, P and I were walking around in the Apple store. Mostly because P is trying to decide between the 15 inch and the 17 inch MacBook Pro. I left her alone while I was messing around with the MacBook. I saw that on the price list next to it, 2GB is one of the options. I thought it's only available as a BTO option directly via Apple Store online. So I asked one of the store rep about it.

"You guys install the extra 1 GB right?"

"No, it's from Apple."

"I mean, I buy it as 2 GB. You then open the box, and install the additional Memory from the back right?"

"No, it came straight from Apple that way."

"Really? Can I see the box?"

She ran off, and came back with a box. "See the green sticker? 2GB. And it's still sealed from Apple."

I was totally surprised. So I was like "Ok, I'll buy it."

P was surprised as well, not used to me doing impulse buy on computers. One of the other employee who knows us fairly well and was chatting with us at the time took us up front to ring us up. He was like "Hey, you want a free printer?"

"Uh, I don't really care."

P pipes up. "I do!". She picked one of the higher end canon printer that's also a color scanner and color copier. The box it came in was HUGE! So the two of us lug the two boxes. Me holding the printer while P holds the MacBook as we walk back to the car. And now I have a new MacBook.

New Qualcomm Based Phones Banned In US

Found this via Wall Street Journal/Phonescoop:

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) today issued a ban on the import and sale of all new 3G phones using Qualcomm's chips. The ban comes as a result of a patent dispute with Broadcom, which Qualcomm recently lost. This ban will halt the release of all new CDMA models as well as any WCDMA or HSDPA models that use Qualcomm chips. Carriers will be able to continue selling previously launched models, including replenishing stock of them. Until this dispute is settled, carriers will only be able to launch new phone models that have already been imported into the US in final versions ready for sale. Import of new phone models is banned, however, Cingular could launch new 3G phones that don't use Qualcomm's chips, such as those from Nokia. Phones such as the Samsung a727, which has been announced but not yet sold, can only be launched if final production batches were imported before the ban.

This is kind of ironic, one of what I consider to be negative about iPhone is what saved it from this ban. iPhone has no 3G support. Thus safe from all this.