Ohhh yeah.
I had ordered one as soon as ordering became available last week, but the promised delivery date wasn’t until October 5th. That’s 14 days away. And I had to have one. Now.
A colleague tried to convince me yesterday that I should come into the city early and wait at the flagship 5th Avenue Store at 6am. I told him “F NO – do you have any idea how much sleep a guy with a newborn gets?”
But then I woke up at 4am and I thought, well, screw it. What’s a couple hours sleep? For The Experience? I jumped in the shower, made some coffee, and got my ass on the first train into the city, the 4:59 to Grand Central. All Wall Street guys.
I arrived at 6am and got in line. The line was epic. There were about 150 Japanese people sleeping at the front, and then it diversified to a more typical Mac audience of 20 and 30 something half-shaven techie-looking cool geeks. The line ran from the main terminal up the passageway to the North Entrance. They don’t have air conditioning in that passageway, which means it’s practically unbearable. A month ago it would have been murder.
I was about 3 blocks from the front of the line, check it out:
I sat down and waited, still drinking coffee. Like everyone else in line, I pulled out my iPad and my iPhone to pass the time. It was ridiculous. No magazines, no newspapers, no books. A couple of Kindles. But basically all iPads. I felt a part of a tribe of digital devotees. I felt I belonged.
I played Monopoly, did some emails, listened to music, and made small talk with my neighbors in line. The guy in front of me went to Conn College and graduated in the same year as my sister, but didn’t know her. Suspicious. But he was nice. The guy behind me was righteous, talking up every new feature, bashing Apple for the loss of Google Maps, trying to show everyone how much he knew about the products. I wanted to punch him in the face.
The Apple people worked the line, gave out free water, answered questions, and just struck that perfect balance of friendly, knowledgeable and fun. I don’t believe in angels, but these people just fluttered up and down the line, making us all feel delight and joy. Just like angels would.
Around 7:30am, an angel came up with a little plastic box filled with index cards. It was organized by carrier – the Verizon and Sprint angel came first, then the AT&T angel. There were no black 64 giggers left, so I took a white one. Just a little index card. But now I knew for certain that I was guaranteed to be leaving that line with a phone. A phone with pixie dust sprinkled on top.
The line started to move around 7:45. We got to the front around 8:00. Then they gave us wristbands, badges of honor for the Appliest of the Apple crowd. The ultimate Mac Daddy status symbol. I’m never taking mine off.
They walked us in small batches through the throngs at Grand Central, up the stairs, and into the holiest of holies, the Apple Store itself. We wound our away around the store, behind velvet ropes, salivating at all the amazing products. We were close now. I could feel it.
Lots more cool, young, hip, friendly, fun angels to cheer us on as we got closer. My normal cynicism was completely gone. I was palpably excited. Everything was going to be ok. Life was going to work out after all. Apple would never let me down.
And they didn’t.
The device is so beautiful and fast and sleek. It’s what all the reviewers say, times 10. And I got mine first. There’s something to that feeling that is difficult to describe and very rare. Somehow Apple managed to achieve it.
I have a little smirk on my face right now as I think about all the poor schmucks who still have to wait 2 weeks for their phones to arrive from China.
