iPhone Lands in Chicago

By Louis in News on Jun 28, 2007 3:00PM

Earlier this week, accompanied by armed guards, and carefully escorted onto American soil, the first shipment of iPhones began to arrive. The creator of the ubiqitous iPod, has the PR buzz (or Reality Distortion Field) in full effect, and we can't remember so many people ever caring so much about a cell phone. No one really got excited about the new Blackberry (even if they are promoted by John Mayer), and when an updated TREO landed a few months ago, it didn't get any attention. But this is Apple.

The iPhone received one of its first public appearances the other night here in Chicago. Unfortunately, it wasn't with Steve Jobs, but rather the new president of AT&T at NXTCOMM.

In New York, people are actually lining up at the flagship Apple Glass Cube Store on 5th Avenue. We haven't seen any campers yet for the 6pm release on the 29th, but we are going to go out to the Apple Store on Michigan early Friday to see if anyone is waiting to drop $500-$600 on the iPhone. Though, you can also get one at most AT&T/Cingular stores, and their website has an iPhone locator. The store on Michigan will close at 2pm and prep for the 6pm launch.

Chicagoist writers are split on whether now is the time to sport an iPhone, but as the reviews are spilling in, that itching gadget lust that has driven us to purchase almost every iteration of iPod is kicking in.

So, we are happy to join in the chorus of websites discussing the iPhone (NYT-David Pogue, WSJ-Walt Mossberg, and The Onion). The reviews are pretty even handed, giggling over the slick interface and whiz bang features, but most are still bemoaning the keyboard, the fact that it is exclusive to Cingular, and it being EDGE only.

We still want one, but we don't have anything left to sell on eBay. T-minus 32 hours.