Damn you, Steve Jobs

sync in progress iphone is activated
Originally uploaded by enrevanche.

You know, it seems like there was a whole lot of big talk in these parts recently about being over and done with Early Adopter Disorder, letting other people buy the Rev 1 Apple hardware and do the debugging, and so forth.

No iPhone for me, not yet, no sir.

And I was pretty damned smug on Friday about all the folks standing in line for their Jesus Phones. (I don't stand on line for *anything*. If the restaurant doesn't take reservations and it's full, I go somewhere else.)

My sainted grandmother gave me some good advice once: "Make your words sweet, son, because someday you might have to eat 'em."

And then a guy in our building reported a completely painless experience picking up an iPhone today...

Hi. I'm Barry, and I'm a gadget-holic. ("Hi, Barry!")

I must admit that the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue was handling a daunting logistical challenge with grace and style. Nobody enables better. The place was *packed* with people... but the longest and most difficult part of the transaction was getting up and down the stairs as the crush of acolytes descended and ascended.

From the time I walked into the store until the time I walked out with the iPhone... eight and a half minutes.

Total time, once home, to download iTunes 7.3, sign up for an AT&T account and switch our service from Sprint, and start receiving calls on my existing cell phone number on the iPhone: 45 minutes.

Yow.

So far I am completely and utterly delighted.

We're all living in a science-fiction novel; you realize this, of course. :-)