iPhone Review and Activation Foiled in Baltimore, Maryland

June 30, and I’m still looking, but not using the iPhone. It’s my fault really, this dialogue, (or is it a diatribe?) is coming from a guy who has a 33 year old Cub Cadet riding mower, a rotary phone and no TV. I’m driving to the Apple store tonight to buy a Macbook Pro. After all, we’re putting together one to two fly fishing videos a week for the site www.backwaterangler.com and I’ve been secretly coveting Jason du Pont’s Machine since last Summer. So, I’m mentally ready to take the tech plunge. I’m hoping to get the iPhone “synched” and working using the Apple store’s wireless connection. While I’m waiting, a steady stream of folks are barreling through the store. –Hopeful kids with parents in tow, smiling older people that are “hip to the tech”, and even some octogenarians are pouring over the iMacs.

At the MacGenius bar, I meet a distressed woman that drove down from Harrisburg, PA to get her iPhone activated and she, after a few hours with a Mac Genius left with an AT&T email message that said,

“Congratulations, AT&T is activating your iPhone. Your phone will notify you when activation is complete.”

Creepy.

The super nice Apple guy I spoke to on the phone is here in person yipee! He’s beaming and ready to help, but relates that; “they are sold out of the $1999 machine, and would have them available Monday or Tuesday”.

So off to CompUSA I go. It’s now 8:30 PM, the store hours sign say they’re open till 9:00 PM, but the OPEN sign is not lit. Am I too late, or is CompUSA just sticking it to BGE? In a few minutes I’m inside, looking earnest and trying to make eye contact with several red vested clerks. Finally, I’ve got one. I ask the clerk if, “they have any MacBook Pros boxed up and ready to go.” He says; “We should have one in stock and that, “he’ll be right back” and disappears amidst the aisles. After about ten minutes, the store will be closing message blares over the intercom. I’m ready to take my package to the front, but I don’t have one yet. The clerk returns long-faced and mentions that they only have two in stock and they are both on the floor as demos. My plan to activate my iPhone is foiled again…

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