This morning I drove to the Apple store and I saw a huge line, longer that the one I saw at the launch last year. My first thought was "Why?? Why are you standing in line?". The iPhone 3G has nothing new. Nothing. Just the 3G part, which works on 10% of the US... And I have lived without it for a year without missing it much. It can't be it...
The only explanation for me is price. But if it is just price, why would you stand in line the first day? You do it to look cool with girls (or boys). But the new iPhone does not make you look cool. The first iPhone was a magnet, nobody saw anything like that and you had eyes of everyone around on you, as soon as you took it out of the pocket. This one is a yawn, saw it for a year, nothing new. Don't tell me that a plastic case makes a difference...
On top of it, the first day is a mess by definition. People spent three hours in line to find out they could not buy the thing (congrats, Matt! ;-) The at&t sign-up process failed many times today, as it did a year ago...
Last year, I bought the phone the first day at 11 pm. No line. Smooth activation while I was sleeping. This year, I just updated my old iPhone to the 2.0 firmware at home, nice and easy. I have all the new cool stuff on it and no pain. I will get a new iPhone sooner or later, but probably not today...
In particular, the App Store features Funambol. Our app is much faster now, compared to the one in the jailbroken devices. It rocks. Over the air synchronization of contacts is the way to go (even Apple says it now, with MobileMe and $99 a year vs. free...). You should definitely try it, maybe when you wait in line to get your new iPhone ;-)
