Waiting for iPhone: Columbus (Indiana) Discovers the iPhone

About half of the folks in line were already AT&T customers; the others seemed eager to switch, some for reasons that might have had zero to do with the iPhone. I hurled out the softball question, why is it you're here for an iPhone?

"It's Apple, first of all," replied the first fellow in line. "It's the newest and greatest. It's borderline revolutionary."

Stakeholder #3 in line, named Rick, is obviously the guy the whole neighborhood calls upon for computer help. He knows Windows, certainly, but he uses Macs at home, the oldest being a heavily self-upgraded Macintosh Plus, circa 1987. Currently a Motorola RAZR owner, one of Rick's chief reasons for wanting the iPhone was to have a portable OS X-based device - in essence, a miniature Mac at his fingertips. "It'll keep me from having to lug my laptop around for my WiFi." He's also looking forward to being able to send messages back using a keyboard that his fingers would operate.

Perhaps an older fellow than he looks, Rick remembers HyperCard. "Anybody could figure it out in just a few minutes; they didn't have to be a genius to know what they were doing?" Will the iPhone need its own HyperCard-like "killer app" in about six months' time, to help refresh it in customers' minds the way HyperCard did for Mac Plus owners? Rick thinks that killer app will be Safari...the cross-platform Safari, including for Windows, which he believes will bring more customers into iTunes.

I asked the crowd, if Apple had devised a phone with its name brand but regular buttons instead of a multi-touch display, would they still be here in line? One said yes, another said no, and Rick replied, "They wouldn't have done it. They bought the company that made the touch-screen technology, so they knew it was coming."

Who in line already owns iPods? Everyone, without exception. What are they going to do with them? Will they sell them on eBay, like our friend Alex whom we met yesterday in Indianapolis? Surprisingly, no, they're going to hang onto them or give them to relatives. Rick will keep his iPod connected to his stereo.

How long does Rick plan to continue using this particular iPhone? "Until the next one comes out." Luckily, he has a big family to inherit his pre-owned models.

At about two minutes to the hour, Jared popped out to alert everyone, "We're getting' close, man!" There were little beads of sweat, as he envied being on the other side of the door more than at any time during the day.

Two minutes past six, and finally the manager emerges. She can't resist temptation, instructing folks to please display their drivers' license and at least one piece of mail. When some appeared to take her seriously, she added, and please remove your shoes.

I wasn't allowed inside during the sales period - indeed, the store was alerted to my presence beforehand, and there was a security guard present to ensure my good behavior. The long reach of Apple doesn't stop at the Bartholomew County border.

Nine minutes later, the first fellow in line emerged victorious. What's the first thing he's going to do, I asked him? He has a wireless network in his house, he said, so he'll browse the Internet first. Then he'll try "all the superior applications that are new to this phone, check all those out."

By 6:13 pm, the line had diminished to one person. The fellow who entered in front of him was being waited on by three members of his family, the most eager of whom was the senior member, maybe in his 60s. Surprisingly, he was the most disappointed by the whole affair...and not for the reasons you might expect.

The line wasn't long enough, he said. It could have been longer, and it's Apple's fault it wasn't. "There's just too much hype about this because of the advertising," he said. He couldn't get away from the incessant ad - and not a variety of ads, but the same one over and over. "These guys are desperate to sell the damn things," he remarked, that Apple put together what was for him a less than effective campaign.

Which was a shame, since it's a remarkable phone. Give it two weeks, he said. Word of mouth will bring people back to the store, especially after they've seen their friends using it. Then the phone will at last get the sales it deserves.

Stakeholder #15 emerged at about half-past the hour. He was very anxious to get home, knowing he needed to figure out how to get this thing activated on iTunes.

When the crowd inside thinned at about a quarter to seven, I was invited in. There, I saw a proud working class man, probably in his late '50s - maybe a Cummins employee - with whom he described as the younger of two sons, about 16. He let his boy touch the iPhone on display first, as though he was opening up the future for the boy. He even prompted him to go touch.

But no, he wouldn't buy one for him...The 8 GB iPhone he did walk away with was for his older son, who after all, was in college. "You can buy two!" pleaded Corey, another of AT&T's staff. "Come on, Dad, $499! I need another phone." It was here that the poor gentleman wished he hadn't have been so compelling ten minutes earlier.

Perhaps as many as 32 iPhones of both 4 GB and 8 GB varieties were sold by about 7:15. "Did you see how fast we were punching those sales?" proclaimed one store clerk. "Twenty-four sales in 20 minutes!"

It was probably everything that a manufacturer could hope for one of its outlets, for the premiere of its new gadget. First of all, it was fun. Everyone in line had a blast, like a movie premiere, but everyone exited with more enthusiasm than when they entered. They were customers handed to these sales staff on a silver plate. Only a few inquisitive souls peeked in later in the day to test the iPhone for themselves, then think it over for the night. There will be more in stock tomorrow, the manager said, pretty confident in her words. But nobody left empty-handed who didn't want to be.

This is what happens when a product is made widely available, through well-timed distribution, in a controlled environment where the staff is trained and ready. Maybe the rest of the nation wasn't like Columbus, Indiana, early this evening. But few places seemed like Columbus during the last big gadget rollouts for the two big game consoles. Here at last, if only in this one place, was a rollout done right.