Apple iPhone lines: No longer the social event of the season

For fanatics of anything, camping out in line for the latest product or event is a chance to show off their loyalty and devotion to whatever their chosen obsession may be. Waiting for hours in unforgiving conditions creates a real camaraderie between folks, and helps soften a person's judgment of the product they waited for.

I think back ten years when Star Wars: The Phantom Menace came out, when dozens of people I knew, Star Wars geeks or not, waited in a line that extended literally six blocks down the street from Baltimore's Senator Theater just for a ticket to any showing. After we witnessed that cinematographic abomination, we held our tongues and told ourselves it really wasn't that bad. Even harsh critics I knew who I'd followed out of theaters mid-movie in the past gave the movie a longer consideration than it deserved.

Apple really tapped into this emotional attachment with its iPhone launches, welcoming line waiters with a full crew of "geniuses" thunderously cheering and high-fiving the entering crowds to congratulate them for purchasing a phone only marginally as useful as a BlackBerry.

Today's iPhone 3G S launch tried desperately to retain the experience of the "iLine" while simultaneously having system that is less prone to failure. Unfortunately, it really can't be both ways. The Apple Store in Towson, Maryland, like most of the others across the country, set up two lines: one for pre-order customers, and one for walk-ups. At 9:00 am, the time when "general availability" of the iPhone 3G S began, there were less than a dozen people in the walk-up line, while the pre-order line was at lest ten times longer.

Apple has made the process of obtaining the new iPhone much smoother, and in doing so, much less exciting. Customers who pre-ordered the device can pick up their reserved iPhone at their leisure, or get it shipped to their house. I asked a youngish looking guy at the end of the line why he chose to wait in line, and he said "Oh, I don't know, I just wanted to come down here," and made no mention of his excitement for the phone.

It doesn't help that the 3G S is only an incremental upgrade with no change in design (other than with the new white-backed model), making it even less of an exciting product to line up for. It wasn't just the kid I spoke to, no one in Towson seemed to be clawing at his own eyes in anticipation of getting a magnetic compass and 3 megapixel camera. That is not to say there weren't happy customers leaving with a new toy, but the lack of incentive to show up and act silly was obvious.