iPhone madness in Miami!

I just got back from the Apple store at the Lincoln Road Mall and it is still wild over there. The line of more than 200 people hasn't lessened, even after the first group went in the store two hours ago.

Watching the first group go into the store was like watching a college football team arrive on the field. That is Jorge Bernal, the first person in line at the Miami Beach store. He told me he was prepared to start waiting in line on Tuesday, and had his chairs and pillows ready in his car. He scoped out the area daily, and by Thursday at 4:45 a.m. he saw someone with a backpack, got paranoid, parked his car and jumped out with his chair. The backpacker was only a passerby, so he was relieved to know he was the first.

Also among the first was Adriana Nieto, who huddled under umbrellas with friends through a rain shower that lasted all night long. She said she didn't get any sleep and kept awake with frequent visits to the nearby Starbucks (apparently Starbucks was everyone's main bathroom during the campout.) I wonder if she realizes the airbrushed Apple lasts a week... at least that's what the vendor who was selling the tattoos told me.

The first to leave the store with one in hand was with Jorge's group, 14-year-old Eric Rodriguez of Southwest Ranches. He didn't have much to say (in fact, when he was asked by a television reporter why he wanted it, he said "I don't know." I assume (and hope) that was shyness that got the best of him, because he later added that it was "amazing technology."

It was a surreal experience, like being at a red carpet minus the Joan Rivers. Tourists and passersby were taking videos and photos of people they never met before, but the atmosphere was just so exciting, you can tell everyone wanted to be there to experience this historical moment.

Do you remember where you were when the iPhone came out?

Photos by Walter Michot / Miami Herald staff

Comments

[Dominick Ogden]

Yeah I think that Iphone is over rated at the moment. I may sound jealous but I am not. Apple can not insure it's "Greatness" because not everyone has been able to fool around with one. And at this moment they are over priced and you can wait a year and the price will drop, like the RAZR did.

[Jose Cabrera]

the kid witt the blue shirt and long hair is in my p.e. class. haha