Posted on Fri, Jul. 11, 2008
Patrick A. Carney
Apple iPhone mania continues in Philadelphia. Hundreds of people throughout the Delaware Valley flocked to their local AT&T and Apple Stores today to get their hands on the new 3G iPhone. A Center City AT&T Store at 16th Street and Ranstead Street was no exception.
“The first guy was in line at midnight,” said a store assistant manager who would only give her first name, Candace. “By 8 o’clock this morning, the line wrapped around the block down to the Five Guys [a store nearly two blocks away].”
By 11:30, there were 72 people anxiously waiting outside to get their hands on the hottest new gadget. A lucky few who had already passed the security guards at the entrance were just minutes and $199 away from iPhone bliss.
“This is my chance to get my hands on new technology,” said Charles Davenport, from Philadelphia, who was preparing to leave Sprint for his chance at the iPhone, which works exclusively with AT&T in the United States. “It’s not just a phone; it’s so much more. I can take and keep pictures with me so I can show off pictures of my daughter.”
The iPhone wait is nothing new for Davenport, who is well experienced in campouts for new technology.
“I waited for the Xbox 360 overnight in the cold last year,” Davenport recalled. “I saw the store close and open.”
Candace believes the iPhone frenzy is a result of the upgrades Apple incorporated into the 3G version.
People are excited, she said, because “it’s new, it’s faster and you can get corporate email.”
John Yerkov, from Northeast Philadelphia, came to the store on his lunch break to see if he could land this new tech toy. However, he wasn’t interested in waiting all day to upgrade his phone.
“I tried to get the Wii Fit,” Yerkov said of the hot new workout package that works with the equally hard-to-find game system, “and no place had it, so I lost interest.”
Despite hours of waiting, iPhone fanatics may walk away with the same old cell phone they showed up with. AT&T would not guarantee that they would have enough products to meet the overwhelming demand.
“If we do run out, the customers will have the opportunity to sign up today [and pick up the product after more supplies arrive],” Candace said.
For those unlucky latecomers, the frenzy continues tomorrow.
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