Lincolnites get hands on new iPhones

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By MICAH MERTES / Lincoln Journal Star

Perhaps 1980s poet and rocker David Coverdale said it best:

“Here I go again.”

Here we go.

View Slideshow

Alexander David Ruder, 18, walks out of AT&T Wireless as the first person in Lincoln to get an iPhone 3G. (Micah Mertes)

Again.

The iPhone 3G went on sale everywhere Friday and was available in Lincoln at AT&T Wireless at SouthPointe Pavilions.

More than 100 Lincolnites lined up to nab the gadget’s latest, greatest incarnation, though only 40 phones were available, said AT&T Wireless representatives.  The phones were sold on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The line in Lincoln (and reportedly others elsewhere) moved a little slower than expected because, AT&T reps said, so many people were setting up the music store iTunes on their iPhone that it slowed the activation process to a snail’s pace at times.

The last phone in Lincoln sold at around 10:30 a.m.

Those in line who didn’t get a phone were offered a direct fulfillment option, in which they pay with a credit card and have their iPhone 3G shipped to the Lincoln AT&T Wireless store for pickup.

Alexander David Ruder, 18, offered a new spin on an old maxim: “The early bird catches the iPhone.”

Ruder was the first person to walk out of the store with the phone, and he certainly put in the time for this distinction. He and his friends had been waiting outside the store since 9:30 Thursday night.

The line behind him cheered as he walked out of the store boasting his first iPhone.

But for some in line, the experience was a more than a little deja vu. A few had waited at the same location more than a year ago, when the first iPhone model went on sale.

Jeff Cloud, 26, was one such customer, one who had no luck last year.

“I was actually the first guy in line not to get one last year,” Cloud said. “They had one left, one on the counter waiting for me. But the lady in front of me ended up taking two of them. So there were none left.”

Did you punch her in the back of the head?

“Oh, no,” he said. “It was actually a blessing in disguise.”

Because now he has the new one.

But for people who already own the first iPhone, is the price worth the upgrade?

Josh Ferguson, 28, who already has version 1.0, thinks the upgrade is worth standing in line for, “but I’ve got mixed feelings because I kind of feel like I’m getting ripped off. I’ll be paying more per month.

“But, you know, I’m just kind of an Apple fanboy, so I have to get it.”

Ben Harms, who lives in Seattle and was in Lincoln on business, said the new iPhone is worth the upgrade and the contract simply because, well, “It’s the shiz.

“Actually,” he said on second thought, “it’s because I’m a total dork, and I need to have it.”

Husband and wife John and Sara Gilliam said, more than anything, buying the iPhone is an opportunity to be part of the “cultural zeitgeist” and perhaps also a way to make your co-workers seethe with envy.

Another reason, the Gilliams said, is they both have the oldest phones on the planet. John’s anachronistic yellow device goes by Old Yeller, “weighs 8 pounds and bounces really well.”

“I feel like we’ve suffered the ignominy of the ugly phones long enough,” Sara said. “And I need something to taunt my colleagues with. I’m going to carry my iPhone around prominently and use it all the time.”

Reach Micah Mertes at 473-7395 or mmertes@journalstar.com.