So, another iPhone mania experience.

We are standing in line at the Dallas Knox Apple store - been here since about 9:45AM and it is hot.   We seem to have about 75 more people to wait behind before we get our new iPhones.

Quite a process – last year, we lined up about 4:00PM, doors opened at 6:00PM and we left with our iPhones about 6:20PM.  This year – not so great.  First, the new 2.0 software disabled my current iPhone about 9:00AM on Friday.  The Apple servers were overloaded and it took until late morning to begin the rebuild process – first downloading iTunes, then QuickTime, then the new software and the final result- a dead phone with no service.    Seemed like a good time to pay a visit to the local AT&T store.

The Addison AT&T store was sold out and a trip to the Apple store at Willowbend revealed a line of several hundred people – no iPhones for us on Friday.  The only good news was that by the time we got back home Apple cleared up the issue & after a 2 hour sync, my old iPhone was revived.

So, Saturday morning, the quest continued.  Arriving before opening at the AT&T Addison store again, we were informed they had plenty of phones.  About 45 minutes later they informed us those plenty of phones only included one 16gig black one.   Jumped in the car, drove to Knox and that gets us up to date.

So, standing here in the heat, typing on my old iPhone, I can’t help but applaud (again) the sheer marketing genius of Apple.   A survey of my line mates revealed that 4 out of 4 are replacing last year’s iPhones with new 3Gs.  Gas is nearly $5 a gallon, the stock market is tumbling and hundreds of people are standing in line for hours in 100 degree heat to pay hundreds of dollars for another iPhone. 

Good marketing?  Oh yeah.