iPhone frenzy in Philadelphia

On a busy Center City street corner, Ryan Richardson lounged in his luxury lawn chair at 7:30 this morning counting the minutes.

Behind the 33-year-old social worker, a queue of more than 100 people snaked down 16th Street. By 8 a.m., 150 had gathered, waiting for the AT&T store at Ranstead Street to open its doors.

Each person in line wanted to be among the first to score the newest version of the iPhone 3G, a cheaper, faster version of Apple's blockbuster mobile phone.

Richardson set up camp at 11 o'clock last night. At 8:15 a.m., he emerged from the shop smiling and flashing his new prize.

"I'm very excited," said Richardson. "It's worth every bit of waiting out here."

He said he wanted the iPhone for the fast internet access.

"I'm moving up like the Jeffersons," Richardson said. "I'm leaving pre-paid alone and going to the iPhone!"

Tom Thi, 33, of Center City, only had been waiting since 5 a.m.

As he stepped from the store with his new phone this morning, a reporter asked what he was going to next.

"Go to sleep," Thi said.

The majority of the eager buyers of the new gadget had arrived just before dawn. Though there were plenty of others who had staked out a position in line late Thursday.

Jose Rodriguez, 28, had been waiting since before 12 a.m.

When asked if he were disappointed he wasn't the first in line, he shrugged.

"I enjoyed the company," said Rodriguez, of Northeast Philadelphia. "I didn't want to be out here alone at midnight."

John Street - the tech-crazed former Mayor who infamously waited in line for 15 hours last year when the first edition of the iPhone went on sale - was not to be seen this morning.

In Ardmore, customers are still waiting to get inside the Apple store to buy the device.

Greg Goodwin has been standing, sitting, squatting there since 6:45 a.m.

A little after 11 a.m., he'd inched his way, number 30 in line.

"I decided to come out here early. Obviously, it wasn't early enough," he said, with a laugh.

Behind Goodwin were more than 100 people, in a line that disappeared around the corner.

Goodwin, a 37-year-old graphic designer from Mount Airy, already has an 8g IPhone that he bought last year. But couldn't resist a shiny new one.

"The internet connection on the 3g is twice as fast," he explained. "To have access to on the go is very convenient for me."

The store has been letting in 15 people at a time. Then, each customer works with their own specialist to handle their IPhone needs: new phone, upgrade, activation and personalization. The process takes at least another hour.

And it's going slower than expected. Goodwin said he heard AT&T's server is up and down - something AT&T has denied.

"I'm probably looking at another two hours," Goodwin lamented. "I would leave at this point, but that would be a total waste."

The iPhone 3G is anticipated to bring a surge of customers to AT&T and Apple stores across the country and at other outlets around the world.

"We do expect a big turnout," said AT&T spokeswoman Ellen Webner.

Lines had already formed at stores in Boston, Tokyo and Sydney. The first queue was formed last week in New York by environmental activists and publicity seekers.

Webner said AT&T has bolstered staff at its stores to handle the expected rush in business.

There are differences in how the phone is sold compared to last year, and AT&T has been giving out brochures to show customers how to get "iReady."

The document and other iPhone 3G information can be found here:

http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/specials/iphone-info.jsp

The biggest change in the purchasing process is that you will be required to activate the phone in the store.

AT&T doesn't say this publicly, but it is widely acknowledged that this is being done to prevent the phones from being "unlocked" and switched to a different carrier or shipped overseas.

Last year, a customer could simply buy the phone and walk out - and many phones got unlocked, which meant AT&T lost potential revenue.

With the new activation requirement, Webner said the purchase will take about 15 minutes for each customer.

That, in part, is why there will be added staff to try to ease the activation bottleneck.

So what's different about the iPhone 3G?

First, the new version will work on AT&T's 3G network, which makes web surfing and downloading much faster than on the original iPhone.

The phone will be cheaper. The iPhone last year cost $499 for the 4 GB model and $599 for 8 GB.

The iPhone 3G will cost $199 for 8 GB and $299 for 16 GB. The phones will cost more if you are not a new customer to AT&T or a qualified current subscriber.

The new phones will have GPS and new software to handle a variety of applications that can be downloaded free or for a small charge from the new Apple "App Store."

The software will be available for current iPhone users.

The applications feature may be the most game-altering change on the phone. Applications that have been previewed include programs that turn the iPhone into a musical instrument, a language translator, a geographical friend tracker, and a game player where turning and shaking the phone directs the action.

Features that still have not been included - to the dismay of some iPhone fans - are a video recorder, multimedia messaging and a cut-and-paste function.