Things that iLove, Part I

June 15, 2010.

iPhone 4 goes online for pre-order through AT&T and the Apple Store. Thousands swarm the online stores in a frenzy to get an iPhone 4 reserved. Did I want to buy an iPhone 4? Maybe. But I had plenty of time to decide. Or so I thought. The Apple and AT&T servers lagged and crashed, went up and down, like a metaphor for a really bad storm out at sea. Before noon, Apple's ship date for iPhone 4 had been pushed to July 2nd--a full week later than the initial delivery date. After even more pre-orders, Apple had to push the ship date back to July 14th.

This had never happened before. A phone has never had 600,000 pre-orders on it's first day alone. 600,000. AT&T said that there were ten times as many iPhone 4 pre-orders than 3GS pre-orders. They even suspended all pre orders after day one. Apple issued an apology for their flaky servers. This is crazy. I no longer even had the option to pre-order an iPhone 4 for its release date.

So I was left with three options: pre-order the phone for July 14, wait in the standby line outside the Apple Store on the release date, or not get an iPhone 4 just yet. The third one wasn't an option, and the first wasn't much of an option either.

June 23, 2010

7:00pm

My bag is packed tight with blankets, food, and electronics. I am going to wait. I unplug my iPhone 3GS for the last time with a full charge for the coming night.

7:15pm

I enter the 4E lounge. Tim, Lizzie, and Shaymus are there. We meet Nicole on at the Harvard Bridge and make our trek into Boston. We're going to see Toy Story 3. It seems as if my whole day is committed to Steve Jobs. See, he sold Pixar to Disney a few years back and now is the biggest Disney shareholder. In essence, Steve Job's is Mickey Mouse's boss and the reason why Toy Story exists. I might as well just give him my credit card and say "here, take whatever you want."

8:00pm

We pass by the Apple Store on Boylston Street on the way to the movie theater. There are a handful of people sitting in the reservation line. About 40 or so people are in the standby line. Some of them have tents. A sense of uneasiness overcame me--there were a lot of people in line so early and so well prepared for camping out.

10:30pm

After parting ways with Shaymus, Lizzie, and Tim, Nicole and I arrive at the Apple Store. We get one of the last spots on Boylston street, before the line bends around the corner towards the river. There are about 80 people ahead of us. One of the Apple Store employees is there, and she assures us that everyone in line will get iPhones. Within a few minutes of our arrival, the next camper arrives and introduces himself. Rafael. Shortly following him, Anna joins the pack. After that, Jen and Wael get in line and the next people form the line around the corner.

Nicole and I lay out a blanket on the sidewalk and begin chatting with Anna and Rafael. Rafael makes the night's first Walgreen's run and orders Lobster for delivery from a local seafood restaurant. Lots of people are passing by, asking what we're all in line for.

11:15pm


12:15am

After waffling for quite some time, Nicole finally decides to head home because she has to catch a bus at 7:30am for her brother's graduation. Maybe she'll get an iPhone someday. I turn around to meet the people who are in line ahead of me. I meet Tess and Stephanie, both of whom are moving to another network to AT&T for iPhone 4s. We begin to play a game of Scrabble.

12:25am

Mike arrives with his iPad, and everyone soon gets distracted from the Scrabble game. Mike and I stream Arrested Development to his iPad via Netflix and try to play a Ping Pong game. Lots of drunk people pass by very confused.

2:00am

Mike and I are still playing on his iPad. Tess and Stephanie are playing cards. Anna and Rafael are watching Love, Actually on a 17" MacBook Pro. I need to use the bathroom.

2:30am

After I return from my adventure trying to find a place to use the bathroom, Mike heads out (his iPad is out of charge). I talk with Tess and Stephanie for a bit

3:00am

I cover myself in blankets and try to fall asleep. No such luck.

3:45am

NECN arrives with cameras. A couple of guys sitting near me are watching porn on their laptops. Tess and Stephanie are spooning under a blanket to keep warm. The news people try to interview the guys nearby, but they are too distracted by the porn and the spooning to give any coherent content.

4:30 am

The sun begins to rise
Apple Store employees begin to arrive at the scene. They bring everyone free donuts from Dunkin' Donuts, followed by coffee, fruit, CapriSun, Dunkaroos (!), cupcakes and freezepops. Anna and Rafael head out to find bathrooms, and I watch The Office on Rafael's computer. Since the sun started rising, people started getting in line pretty quickly. The reservation line extended all the way to Commonwealth Ave, and the reservation line extended down Boylston Street a few blocks, at least.


Finally, it's 7am. The doors are open. People are cheering. News reporters are everywhere. The line begins to slowly move. After just over an hour, Anna, Rafael, and I get inside the store and are being helped by an employee. With all of the hundreds (thousands?) of people there, patiently awaiting their iPhone 4, the Apple Store really had their act together. All of their employees were present for the big day and none of them rushed anyone. When we got inside, we were asked about our night spent living on the street, what we do, why we want the iPhone, real conversation--well, at least as real as conversation gets in a retail store. I see my first iPhone 4!


Good news: I can get a phone. Bad news: I don't have a subsidy, so my wallet gets a little bit sad. But I'll live. I get the phone and get home shortly after 9am. After restoring the iPhone 4 from my 3GS, I crash for a few hours. When I wake up, I enter the magical world that is iPhone 4...