Today is Day One for the iPhone 3G S

Last July I was in line, well before sunrise, to purchase the second generation of Apple's iPhone, the iPhone 3G.

Today, less than a year later, a faster more capable less expensive iPhone, the 3G S model, went on sale at Apple and AT&T stores at 7 a.m.

But, I wasn't there. Despite the nifty new features, I cannot justify replacing last year's model...at least not just yet. Yesterday, I was, however, among the first to install the latest iPhone upgrade which gives me some of the new features...search, cut & past, and voice recorder, to name a few. But, I will need the new model to take advantage of Voice Control, a camera with focus features, a camcorder, more memory, and a faster speed.

So, I went about my morning as usual, but by noon, I could not resist being part of the "action." I had to see what was going on at the Walnut Creek Apple Store. So off I went.

There was a line outside, but not a line around the block, as was the case last year.



For this iPhone, customers could reserve one in advance to assure getting one on Day One, thus the shorter lines. But, as is typically the case, there are always those who don't get their act together to reserve in advance, and so there were several hopeful customers, patiently waiting in line outside the store, on the chance that not all the iPhones were reserved.



Last year, Apple passed out bottles of water to keep those in line cool and hydrated. I am not sure about the water, but this time around, those in line were under the shelter of very nice black umbrellas, provided for use by the store.

At 12:20 p.m., over 5 hours after the store opened, an employee came out to announce that they were out of iPhones for today. This lucky customer clutched his bag a bit tighter as he left the store while the announcement of no more phones was being made.



It looked like they were taking the names of those who wanted to reserve one from the next shipment. And, those in line were invited to return tomorrow.




Of course, the City of Walnut Creek benefited by the release of the new iPhone by issuing parking tickets to the cars in front of the store that had exceeded the time on their parking meters, probably because their owners were inside making their purchase or were still in line and didn't want to risk losing their place.

I am already starting to save my pennies for next year's model.