The iPhone

I still remember waiting in line for the first iPhone, nearly a decade ago. It was a reasonably long line but a casual effort by today’s standards. I had real excitement for a new device from Apple and not just an evolution of the Rokr let down. But it was also a little weird. I’d never waited in line for technology unless I was trying to return it. On that particular day my car sat in my driveway half loaded for a week long vacation to the coast of Maine. I had more important things to do but instead I waited. No one really knew what to make of all these obvious nerds waiting in front of an Apple Store. A girl in her late teens asked me what I was waiting for. When I told her, she laughed. “What? You’re standing in this long line waiting for a phone? That’s crazy. You can get a phone right over there”.

I waited about an hour. I got my first iPhone and played with it outside the store. I went straight home and bought as much Apple stock as my small savings would allow. It was clear that this device was special. I had no idea what an important role it would play in the next decade of civilization but I knew it would sell and sell and sell.

Here I am today, writing this post on a phone that would fit right in with the best science fiction. How much less my world would be today had Apple just lived up to my expectations in 2007 instead of completely surprising me. I still hold out hope they can do that again.