iDay has dawned

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  On the day   of reckoning for the most-hyped gadget in  my memory, eager customers lined   up Yesterday, a few even braving torrential rain, to be among the   first to get their hands on the coveted new cell phone from Apple Inc.
 
  The gadget, which combines the functions of a cell phone, iPod and   wireless Web browser, will go on sale in the US at Apple and AT&T   stores at 6 p.m. today in each time zone.
 
  It's been the focus of   endless anticipatory chatter and even parodied on late-night TV. It's hogged so   much of the media spotlight, a St. Paul Minn., minor league baseball team   planned to spoof its porcine mascot by selling a real 'iPig.'
 
"This   phone is going to blow everything out of the water," Tony Cecchini, 40, a San   Antonio, Texas, air conditioner salesman said while braving a downpour to wait   outside an AT&T store Thursday morning.
 
  Apple and AT&T Inc.    the phone's exclusive cellular carrier  have not disclosed how many units will   be available at launch, adding to the frenzy that more typically accompanies the   releases of video game consoles.
 
  Featuring a 3.5-inch touch-screen   display, the iPhone will cost $499 for a 4-gigabyte model and $599 for an   8-gigabyte edition.
 
  People armed with sleeping bags and folding chairs   started lining up on Monday outside Apple's flagship store in New York City, but   in the company's San Francisco Bay area backyard, residents apparently took a   more laid-back approach and didn't start queuing up until Thursday.
 
"I   got here at 8 a.m. and was shocked I was the first in line," said Jerry Taylor,   54, a San Francisco marketing consultant and longtime Macintosh computer user   who set up a golf-putting green on the sidewalk to keep himself and a friend   entertained.
 
  Others were looking to turn a quick profit, expecting the   product to sell out quickly and drive up online auction bids to triple the   retail price. Apple said it was limiting purchases to two per person at its   retail stores, while AT&T said it would impose a purchase limit of one per   person at its stores.
 
"We're college kids looking for money," said Josh   May, 18, of Benecia, Calif., who with four buddies formed an ad hoc business   called "iWait" to stand in line for people who couldn't do it themselves. May   and his friends were the first ones in line at the Apple store in downtown   Walnut Creek, Calif., after arriving there Wednesday.
 
  Other companies,   including Playboy, tried to catch a ride on the iPhone publicity wave.
 
"Steve Jobs has delivered the hardware and now Hugh Hefner has delivered   the software," Playboy stated in announcing its fresh "iPlayboy" offerings --   free downloads of wallpaper photos and videos "customized" for the iPhone.
 
  In San Antonio, AT&T's hometown, Cecchini and his wife, Liz, arrived   at 7:30 a.m. Thursday to be the first -- and only ones -- in line at the   AT&T store. The couple hopes to pick up three of the 8-gig models -- one for   each of them, and one for their 15-year-old daughter, who has already been   warned not to take hers to school.
 
  Tony Cecchini, who planned to trade   in his Treo smart phone from Palm Inc. for an iPhone, said he's convinced   designers have figured out how to fully integrate features that are cumbersome   on other phones.
 
"This phone is the cutting edge," he said.
 
  Executives at rival smart phone makers nervously awaited initial iPhone   sales figures from Apple.
 
"I've never seen the kind of feeding frenzy   we've seen in the media," Palm CEO Ed Colligan said during a conference call   with analysts Thursday. Palm reported a 43 percent plunge in its fourth-quarter   profits amid rising costs and blistering competition that offset record Treo   sales.
 
"We expect it to be a very successful product -- but I don't know   how it can possibly live up to the hype," Colligan said.
 
As the saying goes...follow the money!

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