Bunch Of People Wait In Line For A Phone

Steve La

Hundreds of geek boys, techies, computer neophytes, Apple lovers, PC haters and the common Everyman in between eagerly lined up to get their hands on the 4th generation iPhone hitting Apple stores today. At the Pasadena Apple Store, it was pre-ordered-haves versus pre-ordered-have-nots.

The Weekly was there for the madness (actually, it was just people standing in a line, but whatever.)

Two lines stretched for blocks along Colorado Blvd and streets leading to the downtown store -- one line was for those fortunate enough to have pre-ordered their phones while the other was for those who hadn't.

"I'm angry", said Carmen Abeyta of Pasadena, who was in the not pre-order line with her friends for 13 hours. "I thought we would be out by 9 or 10 a.m. If I knew it was going to be like this, I wouldn't have waited."

"I just think they should have been more organized and let the pre-orders get theirs all at once", said 22-year-old Janos Szenohradszki who was waiting with Abeyta. "Every 30 minutes to one hour they just let one person in from our line."

(Here's a thought: Wait a couple days and then buy your precious iPhone when there's no line.)

An Apple sales associate who declined to be named confirmed that for every one person let in from the standby line, 10 would be let in from the pre-ordered one.

Despite the wait, some Apple fans enjoyed their time in line.

Byron Galvez, 22, was there to buy the iphone as an anniversary present for his girlfriend Robyn Bassett, who was also in line. How romantic.

It wasn't all bad for those in the non-pre-order line. Apple employees handed out black umbrellas to help shield them from the sun. (Black draws the sun for heated comfort.)

"It's really nice of them", said 24-year-old Jenny Tosu who was happily holding an umbrella. "We were longtime fans of the iPhone and really excited about this one."

In the pre-ordered line, the wait was shorter.

David Ortiz, 31, stood in line for 6 hours and that's after he pre-ordered his iPhone last week.

"I had Apple since I was a child," Ortiz said. "I'm anti-PC."

Despite the wait, most came away from the experience satisfied.

We caught up with Abeyta walking out with her newly purchased iPhone. She had a huge grin on her face. " I'm super ecstatic," said the beaming Abeyta. "I'm going on Facebook to let everyone know I have it."