This is our story of getting and activating our much beloved iPhone, so far. It might not be your story, or even close but it is the truth and what happened.

Our iPhone journey started out weeks ago as we looked for the best possible scenario for getting one. The first choice was Apple Store vs AT&T and we took Steve Jobs's advice to try and go to an AT&T store. Being in New York City, we chose the one in Astoria, Queens. We called them and were told, more than a few times, they would have "enough." for the demand as they were getting calls almost every hour. This seemed like a good enough answer to us.

We arrived on line before 2pm on iDay (June 29th, 2007) and found it starting in the alley next to the AT&T store. There was thirty or so feet of plastic "rope" holding back the 26 people in line. Most people had chairs and the earliest had come the night before to start the line. We slid right in at number 27 as far as we could count, which we did a few times.

Urine Alley

The first thing we noticed besides all the bird dropping in the alley was the incredible stench. We looked around next to our spot in line and there in the corner was a nice puddle of urine and some type of excrement. The odor seemed to be coming from two different corners in the alley and depending on how the wind was blowing was gagging. Having no option on where we were in the line we put down our seat and tried to stand as far away from the stench as possible.

The security guard, dressed in a black suit and tie combo with shades came out at one point and when asked if they were going to hand out numbers in the line said he knew who was there and would remember us. He apparently had been working since nine in the morning and would remember anyone in the line. Having heard that Apple stores were handing out numbers to make sure there was no cutting or other problems, we were not so happy with this version of line management.

The minutes ticked by and the stench grew. After about two hours someone got fed up with the smell enough to go grab a can of Lysol from CVS across the street and proceeded to spray the urine and excrement hoping for some relief. We helped out by getting close enough to spray our corner and tried not to gag while doing it. It didn't help. We now had flowery smelling stale urine smell with a possible hint of human/dog crap. So far, so bad.

Twenty minutes later another guy in line went and got a gallon of bleach and a bottle of Pinesol. He splashed this all over the walls and puddles and it did both mask the stench and provide a new strong odor, but at least this one bearable. Two and a half hours in and we were happy to be getting dizzy off the smell of a puddle of bleach just two feet away. We had also moved our chairs away from the walls of the alley as not to be shat on by the pidgins resting above.

At around 5:30 the line started to move. Everyone got up, folded their chairs and moved up a bit. At 5:45 they let the start of the line go past the beginning of the sidewalk and right up against the door of AT&T. The plastic rope was now of no use it stopped at the sidewalk and now there was just a huge bunch of people crammed up against the AT&T door. No more line, no more order and certainly no way of telling who should be where. The security guard was inside the shop, doing absolutely no good.

Around 6pm, they let in 6 people to the store as planned. After 25 minutes of waiting and nobody leaving the line sentiment turned from curious to angered. At about 6:40 the guard and the manger came out and told us that the ordering system was down and was being rebooted. We joked in the line that it must be Windows and that the Apple stores were probably fine. At this point only one person had left with an iPhone and everyone was moving up in line, going around to the front to see what was happening and get news. Now there was no no distinction between the line and anyone just passing by. A few of us in the line tried to help by moving the ropes to start at the store and continue back into our odorific allay. This at least stopped further damage from being done.

Sold Out

From 7 to about 7:30 they let a trickle of people into the store, each time unlocking and re-locking the front door. We were now about number 13 in line and while it was grim, we were hopeful as people seemed to be leaving with iPhones. The store manager than came out and told the crowd they had run out of 8 GB iPhones. There were still 70 or so people in line and as far as we could tell only a dozen or so had left so the immediate question was, how many iPhones were left? The security guard said he would find out and 15 minutes late came out to say there were 3 left in the entire store. Just three. Three and no more than three. Not five. Not two. Just three.

We left.

In the end we came to find out there were a total of 30 given to that store here in New York City and being number 27 in line we not happy. It looks like they had let about 15 people jump the line and snatch them. Good going guys.

Turning of the Tides

We got home around eight thirty feeling like we had been punched in the stomach. No iPhone and what seemed like no chances. At nine o'clock we went online to see if we could order them and saw the Apple stores 2-4 week wait for shipping. With a few beers in us and some food we decided the best bet after checking the online iPhone availabity was to head to mecca, the 5th Ave Store. We surmised, at best, we could wait in another line for a few more hours.

As we approached the 5th Ave Apple Store around 9:45 PM we saw lots of people but no clear line. There was a line of Apple Employees on either side of the entrance clapping and high-fiving people as they came and went. A quick glance showed people still leaving with iPhones so we high-fived a Apple employees and headed down the stairs. At the bottom another of the hundreds of Apple employees ushered us over to a rope line which by the time we walked through it was at the counter. Five minutes later we had a nice little bag with an 8GB iPhone sitting in it. It was honestly faster than buying a coffee at Starbucks. We tried to tell our story in half horror, half amusement to the Apple salesperson who just smiled and said "If it is anything Apple, just come to us." We were so happy to have our 9 hour mission complete, we almost forgot about Steve telling us to go to AT&T stores.

We would love to tell the rest of this story about the set up and the activation but since it has been now 6 hours since we activated on iTunes with still no confirmation email, the story must continue later.

Apple or AT&T?

The two different buying experiences couldn't be more opposite. While the AT&T staff were slow and incompetent, the Apple staff was happy and quick. The AT&T store made us wait in a piss-filled alley, the Apple employees greeted us and kidded, "be gentle with her.." when we left the store. The AT&T system crashed within the first two orders and the Apple purchasing system was absolutely flawless and fast. We would love to say this is 100% AT&T at fault for their lack of planning, lack of testing and general poor management but Apple does get a black eye for not giving more iPhones for AT&T distribution. This all brought up a lot of questions.

Questions

Why shut down a store for 2 hours just to sell 30 of anything? Why let people go 100 deep if you know you only have 30 of something? Why not test your ordering system to make sure it can handle a few purchases at the same time? Why not consider the idea that in a city of 8.2 million people maybe more than 30 a store are going to want an iPhone?

In the end, we have our iPhone and are happy to be back believing that Apple doesn't mean to do harm in their policies. AT&T, on the other hand, might just be the deal breaker for this device and Apple should do everything in their power to start their own wireless business so as not to have to deal with them.

To be continued in our review of the Apple iPhone.