I just knew that today—07.07.07—would be my lucky day when, in line at the Apple Store in Old Pasadena this morning I was waiting in front of Chuck Henry, L.A.s famed local news anchor and TV personality. Anyone remember “Eye On L.A.”?
Anyway, we both bought an iPhone this morning, along with about 45 other people who lined up before the store opened at 9 a.m.
A day at the beach with Daffy Duck and his girlfriend…
Last week I wondered whether the iPhone would meet its blockbuster estimates. According to a Wall Street Journal report this afternoon, Goldman Sachs is pegging weekend sales at 700,000 (while another analyst said the number was 500,000, more than twice his original estimate). Despite some recent reports of activation problems via AT&T, I finally decided to dive in and give the iPhone a try—at least for the 2 weeks in which it can be returned—and its sold out everywhere.
An Apple.com feature lets visitors know where they can get the iPhone the next day…of the 35 stores in California, only 10 will have iPhones tomorrow. And its sold out in most major cities, including New York City, L.A., San Francisco, Chicago…
There’s little doubt that box office reports early next week will declare Pixar‘s “Ratatouille” a big hit, but what about Apple’s iPhone which also debuts nationwide this Friday? Anticipation is high and the fans are already lining up as the first reviews come in. Personally speaking, as a Pixar fan I am quite anxious to see “Ratatouille,” but I haven’t even watched the trailer. And as a diehard Mac user, I’ve now read the iPhone reviews and every time I decide to take the leap, I pause and reconsider. The virtual keyboard, the high cost, the small hard drive and the questionable battery are my biggest concerns, in that order. The early reviews address all these points, but as many are warning, is it a bad idea to buy a first generation Apple product?
The reviews, so far…
“The iPhone is revolutionary; it’s flawed. It’s substance; it’s style. It does things no phone has ever done before; it lacks features found even on the most basic phones. - David Pogue, The New York Times
“Despite some flaws and feature omissions, the iPhone is, on balance, a beautiful and breakthrough handheld computer. Its software, especially, sets a new bar for the smart-phone industry, and its clever finger-touch interface, which dispenses with a stylus and most buttons, works well, though it sometimes adds steps to common functions.” - Walter Mossberg and Katherine Boehret, The Wall Street Journal
“Apple has delivered a prodigy—a slender fashion phone, a slick iPod and an Internet experience unlike any before it on a mobile handset. Still, iPhone isn’t perfect, or even the most ideal smartphone for every user.” - Edward C. Baig, USA Today
“It’s a superbly engineered, cleverly designed and imaginatively implemented approach to a problem that no one has cracked to date: merging a phone handset, an Internet navigator and a media player in a package where every component shines, and the features are welcoming rather than foreboding.”
- Steven Levy, Newsweek
I’d don’t think many of my friends are in front of a TV to watch the network news at 6:30 p.m., but thanks to DVR technology now we can watch it anytime…so while I rarely watched Katie Couric on TODAY, today I decided to catch her debut on CBS. She did a great job and the broadcast wove together a nice mix of breaking and informative stories, even including a “Free Speech” rant by Morgan Spurlock. The lead story about the rise of the Taliban, leading into a look at Bush’s “War on Terror” speech today, followed by converation with columnist/author Thomas Friedman was solid.
Just before turning on Katie, though, I caught the first opening of CNN’s own “Paula Zahn Now,” with the anchor promising to go “in depth” on the biggest stories of the day…Her 8 p.m. newscast tonight lead with Zahn promising “the very latest” in the death of The Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. And, here’s the exact “breaking news” that topped her show. Zahn said breathlessly:
“We learned today (pause) that (pause) there is (pause) a videotape (pause) of Steve Irwin’s untimely death. But (pause) it (pause) isnt (pause) being (pause) made (pause) public…
Katie also covered Irwin’s tragic death, with a 20 second mention, ten minutes into her newscast.
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