iPhones are here?
We counted at least 30 of these boxes getting unloaded a few minutes ago off of a UPS truck. The management at the store in Palo Alto tried fruitlessly to block our view.
Photo credit: Thomas Hawk.
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Robert Scoble works at Fast Company.TV (title: Managing Director). Everything here, though, is his personal opinion and is not read or approved before it is posted. No warranties or other guarantees will be offered as to the quality of the opinions or anything else offered here.
rscoble@fastcompany.com
+1-425-205-1921
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June 29th, 2007 at 9:47 am
Zoom in? How many phones per box?
June 29th, 2007 at 9:57 am
How do we know these boxes are of iPhones or ice cream around your block.
Mario Ruiz
http://www.oursheet.com
June 29th, 2007 at 10:19 am
Hah hah hah! Looks like maybe four iPhones per box? So that dolly right there is about 40 phones, right?
June 29th, 2007 at 10:20 am
How big has the line gotten now ?
June 29th, 2007 at 10:23 am
I can’t believe you guys are doing all this for a cell phone.
June 29th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Interested to know what the value to Apple is of their Palo Alto staff trying to block your view??? Unless they are in fact ice-creams as Mario suggests.
June 29th, 2007 at 10:48 am
[...] the mean time, here is Scoble’s latest report from the [...]
June 29th, 2007 at 10:48 am
Several of us here at NorthPark in Dallas, TX saw a near identical rolling cart with double the amount of those boxes. It’s 12:45pm here, and about ~130 in line I believe. =)
June 29th, 2007 at 10:52 am
When I swung by this morning at 8:30 there were maybe 100 people in the line.
June 29th, 2007 at 10:57 am
thanks Fritz :) Trying to keep a close eye at the IDAY
June 29th, 2007 at 10:59 am
“I can’t believe you guys are doing all this for a cell phone.”
People keep making the mistake of describing the iPhone as a phone. It’s a video iPod that also makes phone calls and provides internet access, and that’s a lot more exciting to a lot of people than “a phone.”
More importantly, I think a lot of people either don’t understand or severely underestimate the value of a phone that doesn’t suck to use, and from everything I’ve seen so far about the iPhone it may very well be the first phone I’ve ever encountered that wasn’t outright annoying.
June 29th, 2007 at 11:03 am
[...] this is the only way for us to stay sane. We’ve got Robert Scoble getting totally excited by nondescript boxes since he’s been in line at the Palo Alto Apple store freaking yesterday [...]
June 29th, 2007 at 11:06 am
Robert-
While you’re in line, you may wish to check out this article on the ‘true’ cost of an iPod (and who makes the components): http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/06/28/business/ipod.php?page=1
June 29th, 2007 at 11:14 am
Judging from the reports on Gizmodo, lines are generally much shorter at AT&T stores so far. So if you really want one but don’t want to risk being #200+ in line at an Apple store, try checking your local AT&T shop. It might be less ‘cool’ to wait there but you’re more likely to get the phone.
June 29th, 2007 at 11:36 am
My comparison is Apple Store Annapolis 2:35: 50 people
ATT Store Dunkirk MD (small town): 2:30: 8 people (outside, rain)
June 29th, 2007 at 11:56 am
The Iphone is the Paris Hilton of cellphones. All glitz and glamm but very little substance. I am ashamed to see the western world so obviously driven by greed, both Apple for pricing such a mediocre product at such a price and consumers like the gentleman on this blogg who are prepared to support them. The are actually more important issues where your money can be better spent or supporting companies who support better issues. Sorry I find this revolting. You should be ashamed.
June 29th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
@Chris Page
I flip open my 2 year old Moto Razr, simply say the word “home” softly and the thing calls my house. How do you get any easier than that?
As far as being a phone is concerned?
I think that contributed to everybody getting a moto razr. That and the price. I don’t see the iPhone being that accessible. Not 1rst gen anyway.
June 29th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
I’m with “disbelievin’ Chris” on this one. It’s JUST A PHONE, people!
The “value of a phone that doesn’t suck to use” is about the same as a microwave oven that doesn’t suck to use. It’s really not *that* valuable.
June 29th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
My wife just called from the line at our local AT&T store. They only have 30 phones available.
She’s number 31. I don’t know what to do!
June 29th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Some had said somewhere that they were going to use armoured trucks to deliver them? Weird that it’s only 30 boxes for the Palo Alto store?
Yes, I agree with Chris, too: it’s just a phone. But, hopefully, it will change the industry somewhat.
June 29th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
No…wait…really…it is the …. JESUS PHONE…buy into the hype people…drink the KoolAid…that is what people want you to do..open your wallets…there you go…that was easy…take out that piece of plastic…see..no pain…yes we can swipe it for you…sign here…2 year contract….ah….now…you are just like how many other SHEEP???
Feel relavent to what? Whom? Really? Was this worth it? To be the first, or so you think, to have a phone? EGADS..people, engage your brain, you just bought into the Apple mystique.
Enjoy your summer, and hope that there isn’t a next better, shinier thing coming along soon.
Oh wait, you (some of you) will just buy that too. Cause you can. Smart. Really smart.
Again, just my humble opinion.
June 29th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
iPhone… tickle me elmo for grown ups!
June 29th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
I hope nobody gets killed today while waiting in line for the iPhone….after seeing the attack on the reporter (check valleywag.com for more about this) I am not so sure about this anymore ;-)
Anyway, I wrote a small wrap up about three lessons you can learn from the iPhone launch - maybe some guys here have some input?
http://www.customer-experience-labs.com/?p=40
June 29th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
What I liked best about the post was the mobile posting of the photo and seeing all the camera info populated as metadata on Zoomr. That rocks. Now if if only latitude/longitude was pulled and populated with that… You could really do some cool things with mashups then.
Personally, while I am not an Apple fan and am not getting an iPhone I actually hope it is a smash hit and really ends up shaking up the market place. The whole mobile effort around convergance has limped along slowly with minimal incremental advances. A good swift kick in the segments pants would be a great thing for the industry and consuers as a whole.
June 29th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Regarding “The ‘value of a phone that doesn’t suck to use’ is about the same as a microwave oven that doesn’t suck to use.”
I use my microwave about 3 times per day for 90 seconds each time, for a one-way encounter with a frozen hot-pocket. I use my cell phone about 30 times per day for a two-way encounter with my wife, my mistress, my boss….
June 29th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Apple are masters of making people believe that everything they release to market is a “world first” or totally new and innovative. They are a brilliant brand savvy company, with absolutely beautiful looking products, no one can deny that, but sometimes I think they pull the wool over people’s eyes. Good on them for being so good at marketing this stuff, but in my view the iPhone has nothing that my other windows mobile and Nokia devices have not had for years…..
June 29th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
Mac’s iPhone - the latet dating digital assist. Get the i-Candy and get the guy, but beware. . .
Mmm…new guy in town. Never mind. iPhone boy toys -sleek, good-looking & they get YouTube. . .good on paper, but they got no workplace connectivity. Hotties but they don’t have a job.
See the cartoon at http://www.TheLastSingleGirlintheWorld.com
June 29th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Looking for a date? Indulge in i-Candy. Available now: the Mac iPhone, the newest digital dating assist. Find a friend who’s got one (why buy this very expensive 1st generation toy when its better sibling is soon to follow?) and drag him/her to the nearest crowded bar. Plant yourselves in a conspicuous location and pull out your mini phonebooth. Watch it’s super-human powers of attraction draw members of the opposite sex.
See the cartoon @ http://www.TheLastSingleGirlintheWorld.com
June 29th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
Hey dudes, streaming works pretty fine :-)
June 29th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
There’s not a lot of boxes on that trolley…you sure none fell off the back of the UPS lorry??
Hats off to the entrepreneurial geek who decides to launch an auction for his spare iPhone to the masses who never got their own…
…street auctions, now THERE’s an idea!!
June 29th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
[...] while just about everyone out there seems to be waiting for Apple’s iPhone, I’m waiting for my [...]
June 29th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
Saw Patrick in line on “On the Money” … oh yeah, I think I saw his dad too.
June 29th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
Well as far as this being “world class” rumor has it that Europe will get a 3G phone and that this is really a 2.5G phone released to the American market.
Here is the rumor page:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/29/3g-iphone-for-europe-to-be-announced-monday/
So all those people standing in line are already buying an out of date iPhone? Perhaps. Time will tell.
I personally want to thank all of you for beta testing this for me. I am going to possiblly get the later version with increased memory and other glaring flaws fixed. Flaws that you are going to discover for the rest of us who are not “cool” to be early adopters.
June 29th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
[...] the blogosphere is full of it. It’s in here, here, here again, here and [...]
June 29th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
There are about 250 people in line at the downtown Apple Store in Portland. I’m about number 150.
June 29th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
[...] i-Day has come and the hype has not diminished and there is no dearth of coverage. There are blogs, blogs and more blogs talking about [...]
June 29th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
Publicity stunt, I thought I heard somewhere that they were bringing the phones in on Brinks Trucks. This really isn’t a big a deal as they’re making them out to be. You’d think if Jobs gave every apple employee an iPhone, they’d be more trustworthy to handle the shipment early and get things done in a more organized fashion.
June 29th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Some comments in London about how the news in America is said to be iphone iphone iphone iphone iphone iphone iphone iphone iphone iphone iphone Bombs in London iphone iphone iphone iphone iphone iphone iphone…. you get the idea.
http://wombatdiet.net/2007/06/30/broken-news/
This may not be fair but what IS news is a good question.
June 29th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
wow 2 hours since they went on sale and Scoble still hasn’t made a post? I’d have expected pictures and a review about 25 min after he walked in the door with the thing.
Me, I just bought mine online. I’ll wait the 2 weeks for it to get here.
June 29th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
All the major west coast folks have em by now. But who called who first Dave to Scoble to Robert to Dave. Or was it twittered…Inquiring minds need to know..
June 29th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
Ryan, had to drive home and take a shower.
They had about 1,000 in stock, that I could figure. They had iPhones all over the store.
June 29th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
Hmm maybe it was bad of me to buy it online.. I doubt there will be anybody at the store tomorrow.
owell, too late now. I’m not going to cancel on the off chance that there will be some there tomorrow.
There was a big difference between buying online and in store. For example, the online site reccomended that I buy the stereo headset and dock as part of the purchase… failing to mention that they’re included in the box. I bought the headphones and then cancelled after I realized they came with it. Luckily the order process let me cancel.
June 29th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
What’s the big deal? We’ve all seen cell phones before, so that obviously isn’t the source of excitement. And PDAs with Internet capabilities have existed for years, it’s not like we haven’t seen them before. I’ve even seen them combined as one, so what’s the big deal with the iPhone? To be honest, I don’t think there is anything special about it, I think it’s just another one of those things that gets a lot of publicity because they made people wait for the name (if people wanted the product, they could have had that a while ago, just not by this company). Really, look what happened with the iPod? People still often use the name even when it’s made by another company, and there was never anything special about the iPod anyway, it was just the name that started the splurge. I think the same thing will happen here with the iPhone.
June 29th, 2007 at 9:23 pm
Proving one thing — Nathan Sokalski doesn’t have a clue.
June 29th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
Robert, you’re peeing your pants for a PHONE.
Get a life.
June 29th, 2007 at 11:35 pm
Robert,
Your “it lives up to the hype” seems to be related to the physical look and feel of the device. This I never doubted - Apple do make some very funky looking devices. It will be interested to see your opinion after say 2 or 3 days working with it. And yes I want to see your n95 vrs iPhone comparisons please.
Good job queueing tho - I checked in on the live stream from time to time - looks like you guys had fun.
It’s going to be interesting when the iPhone finally launches in the UK - us Brits dont seem to take to Queuing in such a way but Im sure there will be some @ the London store - I may even queue myself :)
Nige