In the past I have been part of the crazies that line up on opening day to get the new iPhone. I did it for the iPhone 4. I did it for the iPhone 5. And, I even did it for the iPad 2. But this time it was going to be different. I decided that I would just get online and order one there hoping I would be able to get the phone delivered on day one.
There are a couple of things that I really enjoy about waiting in line for a new Apple product. There is an incredible amount of energy in the air as people anticipate their new purchase. I mean, you get to hang out with a few hundred other technology nerds. How could this ever be a bad thing? I have had great luck becoming friends, although temporary, with my neighbors in line. We have shared stories about how we use our iPhones, talk about the new features that excite us, and just shoot the breeze about other random things.
For me, buying an iPhone after waiting inline has been as important a part of the iPhone experience as using many of the iPhone’s actual features. When I decided to buy my new online I was a little sad that I would be missing this experience.
As it turns out there is a pretty good substitute for standing in a line for hours in the early morning: Twitter. The iPhone launched online at 3:00 AM Eastern time, but Twitter was flowing freely with people sharing their experiences trying to buy the iPhone. And just like in a normal line there was a lot of angst. Most launch day cell phone carriers and Apple could not handle the massive volume of people trying to buy an iPhone. And just like in a real line where you have no idea how many units the store will actually have, we waited anxiously to actually see the screen refresh allowing us to buy a phone.
So in Jimmy Fallon style, thank you Twitterverse for being just as crazy as I am when trying to order a phone at 3 in the morning.