iPhone 3G

You've heard the hype ... You've heard the buzz ... You've heard the lines forming outside malls all over the world ... Well, you've never heard a story like mine.

7 hours and 10 minutes after I arrived at the Apple store - I left with a phone. Oh no, I didn't wait in line all that time. That part only lasted the better part of three hours. The other four hours were spent fighting with AT&T.

I was in line with lovely people. Directly in front of me was a family (mom, son and daughter). It was the son's 16th birthday - he wanted an iPhone. They arrived the same time as me - 7:05 AM. After waiting in line over three hours, they were told that since the mom was not the primary account holder on their AT&T Family Talk plan (her husband was) - they couldn't get a phone today. I can't believe she didn't cuss out loud. In front of that family was a woman who worked as a police dispatcher, in front of her was an Asian guy that worked at the AMC movie theater and gave us the scoop on all the latest movies. I feel very abreast now of the summer blockbusters that I need to see.

Oh ... the AT&T part. Long story short - AT&T was not adequately prepared for the day. They didn't have adequate customer service dedicated to the Apple customer needs. They were not able to do the necessary reversals and contractual things that needed to be done on a scale as large as this launch was.

For me personally, they sold me a phone at the wrong price. Once they realized it, they had already run my credit card through. Apple reversed the charge on their end and gave me my money back, but couldn't get AT&T to reverse the contract. Therefore, I have a two year contract with them and no phone. (Let me insert the part about how they deactivate your old SIM card 20 seconds after they activate your iPhone.) Apple tried to sell me another phone, but an AT&T agent that was on the line working with us to sort things out activated the phone in the Apple store before I had paid for it - which left Apple with a phone that they couldn't use and me still without a phone because it was continuing to ring up $200 more than it should have been. Finally ... three hours and thirty minutes later ... from the time that I entered the store after waiting in line, with the Apple store manager and the AT&T highest-manager-on-duty in the US on the phone, they came to an agreement of reimbursement for me. I was mentally exhausted. If AT&T could have figured out how to delete my contract, I would have left immediately. No phone was worth what I went through today.

However, the Apple staff was amazing. Definite kudos to them. They held their guns with AT&T and didn't let them give me the short end of the stick ... and for that I am very thankful. My pocketbook is thankful as well.

Oh, and thanks also to the Apple store folks for bringing us water and drinks when we were in line. I regret now not taking pictures of all the folks in line. Hard to believe that I was one of the first 50 people in line. By the time they started letting people in to activate phones, the line was all the way down the mall sidewalk and around the corner of the mall. It was unreal. That was my only motivation to stay in line.

You might think my story ends there. Oh no. Not for me. Miss Bad luck comes at me with both barrells every chance it gets. I talked the Apple lady into letting me take my phone out of the store un-synced. A big no-no for them, but they were tired of me and I was tired of them. I promised to sync it when I got to work and she finally gave in.

I got to work and looked at my new friend Tim's phone syncing - did the exact same thing as him - NOTHING. Unplugged and changed USB ports. Nothing. Did other stuff that I was unsure of whether I should do. Nothing. Can you believe my cord was bad? As soon as I tried it with my old iPod cord, it lit right up.

Just add this to my "terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day" list.

With all that said, I love the phone now that I have one and it works. I've played with it all night. It does everything ... I love it almost as much as CVS, and that's saying a lot.

Tomorrow, I'm going to replace the cord. I'm sure my Apple friends will cringe when they see me come back. Bless their hearts ...