Friday was "iDay," the launch of the iPhone. I knew I'd be involved in some way - even if it was merely stopping by the Apple Store to photograph the people in line. But my plans regarding the iPhone were uncertain. Of course I wanted one, but the monthly cost annoyed me. Remember, I was the one who wrote Why I Won't Buy an iPhone back in February.

But several things happened since then that altered my perception. The first is that in early May I had a major conflict with my prepaid cell phone provider, Tracfone. I'd always been a big fan of their service, but they really screwed me. I have not written about the issue because I'm involved with a legal dispute with them, but in brief when I tried to upgrade through them to a new phone they deactivated my old phone (losing me access to the minutes I'd bought), lost my cell phone number while trying to transfer it to the new one, for technical reasons couldn't activate the new service, forced me to take a major multi-state trip without a cell phone, and then after all the hassle and pain refused to refund my money.

Tracfone used to be decent, but today they have positively the worst customer service I have ever encountered with any company, period. Stay far, far away from them. Compared to them, the AT&T people I've dealt with have been wonderful (and I've never been an AT&T fan).

Because Tracfone screwed me, I switched to AT&T's prepaid GoPhone plan, which actually was cheaper and better (talking to other AT&T wireless customers was free) and I discovered that the signal quality was considerably better than Tracfone. (AT&T has excellent coverage in my area.)

The next thing that happened is that AT&T decided to do something smart (perhaps influenced by Apple) and offer decent rate plans, all with unlimited data.

Suddenly my decision was more complicated. I needed some kind of cell phone, and if I could get a cheaper phone plan, the iPhone was tempting indeed.

To further complicate matters, my mom has been overseas for the past three months, and it just so happens that she was returning on iDay. Even in Togo, West Africa, where she's been helping a missionary friend for the past few months, she had Internet access and had been hearing bits about the iPhone. And she wanted one. She loves her MacBook and hates her Nokia and told me she wanted an iPhone.

Could I really let my mom out-tech me?

So yesterday, as I drove her home from the airport, I explained to her all things iPhone. Her Nokia phone had died while on her trip and we weren't sure why, so we decided to stop at a nearby Cingular store and have them look at it, and perhaps put my iPhone Loophole plan to work. (It turned out her phone battery was merely drained as the charger she'd borrowed from a friend had apparently been incompatible.)

Outside the Cingular/AT&T store was a crowd of people huddled under umbrellas. (This is Oregon. It was raining.) An even larger crowd was in line at the Apple Store just around the corner (in the same mall complex). I was told that mall security had prevented anyone from staying overnight, but people had started gathering at five o'clock Friday morning.

The AT&T store was pretty cool. Not only were they totally helpful in getting my mom's phone working and assisting me with transferring my GoPhone's phone number to a post-paid account (it took over an hour), but they even offered me a piece of the cake they were feeding the people waiting in line outside!

It was fun being in the store at that time -- just minutes before they were to close for the iPhone introduction. There were managers scurrying everywhere, they were moving furniture around, prepping for hordes of people and media (the local news station van was parked right outside). You could feel the excitement in the air. Everyone was in a great mood, smiling with gleaming eyes. I overheard one AT&T rep whisper to another, "Have you seen it?" When the other guy shook his head, the first glanced over his shoulder nervously, and then quickly nodded and said, "Come on to the back with me." No question what they were talking about!

By this point my decision had been made: my mom and I were getting iPhones! The only problem now was that she was exhausted from her long trip home (she hadn't slept in over 24 hours) and of course I would be at the end of any iPhone lines.

I was surprisingly nonchalant about it. I'd have thought that once I'd made my decision I'd be frantic, but I'll admit the $600 price tag was giving me pause, so perhaps that was why I wasn't too worried. I also knew of two Cingular stores and a couple Apple Stores in my area, so I hoped I'd be able to scrounge up a couple iPhones from one of them without having wait long. Besides, the Apple Store was planning on being open until midnight -- would they really do that if they only had a few hundred iPhones for sale?

So I took my mom home, got her settled back in her apartment, turned her Internet and hot water back on, and watched the six o'clock news where they showed footage from the mall where we'd just been an hour earlier. By this time it was after seven, so I decided to just return to the mall. I had toyed with the idea of going to the Cingular store in McMinnville -- that's much closer to where I live -- but AT&T was limiting iPhones to one per person and I could buy two at the Apple Store and save myself hassle.

The mall was insane at just before eight o'clock on a Friday night. It took me a half an hour just trying to find a parking spot (it was bumper-to-bumper). Fortunately, I lucked out. Right as I'd decided to leave and park a half mile away from the mall, a woman pulled out right in front of me and I snagged her spot. It was perfect -- perhaps 100 yards from the Apple Store!

There was no longer a line at the Apple Store, which either meant they were out of iPhones or everyone waiting had gotten theirs. I walked right in, nervously wondering if they'd still have stock. They had tons -- a huge wall of iPhones and plenty more in the back. It was like ordering fast food:

"Yes, I'll take two iPhones with extra memory, please."

"Would you like some accessories with that? A case or bluetooth headphone?"

"Oh sure, why not."

"Here you go! That'll be twelve million dollars please."

The place was a zoo, with plenty of people and probably an obscene amount of money changing hands, yet there were enough Apple salespeople and one guy who helped me was more than happy to chat about iPhone cases and demo the different ones and show off the other accessories. I had expected they might be swamped and harried and I'd feel rushed, but there was no time pressure except my own eagerness to do the deed and get home. They were doing iPhone demos and answering customer questions, though it was interesting to note that most customers came already informed and just wanted to buy and get out. All the iPhone information on Apple's website certainly helped cut down on customer service time.

For your amusement, here's a slideshow of some pictures of iDay at the AT&T and Apple Stores at Bridgeport Village, a mall south of Portland, Oregon:

macopinion@designwrite.com

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