Picture from Pomcast

Steve Jobs is so stoked about the iPhone launch on Friday, he’s giving a rare company-wide pep talk at Apple HQ on Thursday. As far as I know, he’s not held one of these since the early days of returning to the company in 1997.

From: Steve Jobs
Date: June 27, 2007 1:47:55 PM PDT
To: XXXXXX
Subject: Town Hall Meeting Tomorrow

Team,

We’re launching the most revolutionary and exciting product in Apple’s history this Friday. And given Apple’s legacy of breakthrough products, that’s saying a lot.

I’d like to get together and share my thoughts about this amazing moment for our company. So please join me for a company-wide communications meeting tomorrow, Thursday, at 11:00AM in Town Hall.

This meeting will also be broadcast to other Apple campus locations. Please check XXXXXX for details.

See you there,

Steve

Via the iPhoneBlog

Photo: David Phillips/Columbia News Service. “Greg Packer stood in line for eight hours before meeting Brandy, the pop singer.”

There’s more fascinating detail on Greg Packer at Wikipedia:

“Greg Packer (born December 18, 1963), an American highway maintenance worker from Huntington, New York, has been quoted in more than 100 articles and television broadcasts as a member of the public (that is, a person on the street rather than a newsmaker or expert).

Packer’s status as a frequent interviewee came about due to his hobby of attending public appearances of celebrities and other media events and being first in line on such occasions. He has consequently had the opportunity to meet people including Mariah Carey, Garth Brooks, Dennis Rodman, and Ringo Starr, as well as at least three presidents of the United States: Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.”

Even columnist Ann Coulter has sussed him out. After Packer was widely quoted in a NYT piece about fans of Hilary Clinton, Coulter went investigating. She found:

It was easy for the Times to spell Packer’s name right because he is apparently the entire media’s designated “man on the street” for all articles ever written. He has appeared in news stories more than 100 times as a random member of the public. Packer was quoted on his reaction to military strikes against Iraq; he was quoted at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, the Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Veterans Day Parade. He was quoted at not one — but two — New Year’s Eve celebrations at Times Square. He was quoted at the opening of a new “Star Wars” movie, at the opening of an H&M clothing store on Fifth Avenue and at the opening of the viewing stand at Ground Zero. He has been quoted at Yankees games, Mets games, Jets games — even getting tickets for the Brooklyn Cyclones. He was quoted at a Clinton fund-raiser at Alec Baldwin’s house in the Hamptons and the pope’s visit to Giants stadium.

And as a result of the column, Packer got his own profile in the Times: “Long Island Everyman Masters the Sound Bite.”

Greg Packer, the first guy in line for an iPhone at Apple’s 5th Ave. store, is a seasoned, professional line sitter with years of experience.

Packer was first in line at Ground Zero, the first to sign NYC’s Princess Di condolence book and slept in the snow in Washington to see GW Bush after his inauguration.
If there’s any kind of event in New York that requires lining up, Packer is there, reported the Columbia News Service in 2002.

“Packer has made obsessions out of being first in line and of being in the company of celebrities,” the news service wrote.

“This is what I like doing,” he said. “You only live once, you might as well make the most of it.”

Via Gizmodo.

Picture by SeenyaRita

From the Urban Dictionary:

1. iPerbole

The hype surrounding any product Apple unveils.

Claims that the iPhone will change the world are all part of the iPerbole surrounding the cultish company.

by Mark Hengel Crestwood, Kentucky Jan 14, 2007

We’ve known for months that the iPhone couldn’t possibly live up to its hype in all possible regards. The only question has been just how close Apple would come to living up to the device’s promise. The first reviews are in, and the answer is: Pretty darn close. See for yourself:

The iPhone is Breakthrough Handheld Computer (Walt Mossberg, Wall Street Journal)

The iPhone Matches Most of its Hype (David Pogue, NY Times)

At Last, the iPhone (Steven Levy, Newsweek)

Apple’s iPhone isn’t perfect, but it’s worthy of the hype (Ed Baig, USA Today)

I have to admit. I’m finally getting excited about it again. I’d gotten tired of all the hype (some of which I’ve fed) and was looking at a Helio Ocean. But now that it’s getting positive real-world reviews…I’m falling for it again.

Via Apple 2.0.

All of us have enjoyed a good laugh at Sprint’s hastily thrown-together competitive response to the impending iPhone launch. What you might not realize is that such devastating tactics as pushing inferior media phones like the two-sided Samsung Upstage with “unlimited storage” on an unsuspecting public represent just the tip of the iceberg.

We at Cult of Mac, through a research technique we can only describe as “a couple of beers with friends” and “making stuff up” have gotten our hands on a list of talking points Sprint will break out in the next few months, as their struggle with Apple escalates. Please enjoy this Top 5 list of top-secret (some would say fictional) anti-iPhone tactics.

5. Phoning it in
Picture this: A  curious but fairly clueless non-techy interested in the iPhone wanders into a Sprint store, and asks about the mystical device. The Sprint team springs into action! After all, Sprint’s strategy of trying to make any phone technically capable of playing music sound like the same thing as a multi-touch driven multiplayer like the iPhone.

Customer: Can I have an Apple Phone (sic), please?
Sprint Rep: Oh, so you’re interested in being able to place a call, eh? The iPhone is an impressive device, but do you really want to spend all that money? What you might not know is that Sprint offers lots of phones that are capable of making phone calls. Apple would have you believe that you need a $500 device to make a phone call. Nothing could be further from the truth!
Customer: I’m going home.
Sprint Rep: You just do that, little man.

(Read on for the rest of the top 4)

Image from Kottke

The iPod’s scroll wheel is doomed. Multitouch is such a compelling user experience, it must supplant the scroll wheel. Writes Newsweek’s Steven Levy in one of the first reviews of the iPhone:

Also, the new way of navigating–swiping down your song list or fast-browsing by skimming your finger on a vertically arranged alphabet on the right of the screen–is a superior interface.

I can’t see Apple selling another large-capacity iPod with the old scroll wheel interface. Everyone is going to want multitouch, and maybe soon Apple will have the economies of scale to put it on a sub-$400 device. I doubt the nano will go multitouch, but it’s the beginning of the end for the wheel.

One of the biggest knocks on the iPhone (other than its slow mobile data rate and lack of unlimited storage, ala the INCREDIBLE LG Fusic) is that it doesn’t currently support live updating e-mail from corporate networks, the killer app that makes the BlackBerry the CrackBerry people know and snort. The iPhone can sync with Outlook and get push e-mail from Yahoo, it just can’t blend the two.

Well, maybe not for long. According to Mary Jo Foley, Apple might announce tomorrow that it has licensed Microsoft’s Exchange Active Sync software, the only missing piece preventing the iPhone from tapping into Exchange servers wirelessly actively to pull down messages automatically. It’s a very simple system, as seen above. No, I didn’t invent that flow chart. What it seems to mean, though, is that the last barrier to adoption of the iPhone among executives is about to vanish.

Hear that? It’s the sound of Palm and BlackBerry getting sick again.

Technorati Tags: iphone, microsoft, e-mail

Sprint made quite a buzz online today when a list of anti-iPhone talking points it provided to its sales associates got leaked to the web. It’s a mostly futile attempt to make Sprint’s suddenly long-in-the-tooth phones seem sprightly and futuristic. For example, in response to a customer interested in using the iPhone as an iPod, Sprint crafted these gems:

“¢ “We have many handsets that are MP3 players.”¢ “
“¢ “You want to have music with your phone? Let me show you the new Upstage or the Fusic II.”

Whoa, eat it, Apple! Sprint has a phone that’s twice as good as the LG Fusic! I mean, look at the original: It’s almost unimprovable.

Or check this out: Even though most other SmartPhones only come with 64 to 128 MB of storage, compared with the iPhone’s 4 to 8 GB, the former are clearly superior, because they have the ability to accept external memory cards. Check it,G!

• “Did you know that many of our phones offer external storage? Unlike the iPhone, which is only available in 4G or 8G, our phones offer unlimited storage.”

Wow, who knew that the ability to accept storage media was the same as unlimited storage! Under that definition, the original Apple II had unlimited storage – it could record data to as many cassette tapes as you could possibly provide. It’s like Sprint is living in the future!

Via MacDailyNews 

Technorati Tags: iphone, sprint

Photo by AFP. Greg Packer, first in line for an iPhone at Apple’s 5th Ave. store.

iPhone waiters are coming out of the woodwork: there’s dozens now advertising on San Franciso’s Craigslist.

The competition is driving down prices. There’s several advertising for $100 or less.

There’s one guy who wants $500 — but says he’ll deliver.

There’s some new kinds of ads also.

There’s a couple of lonely weirdoes advertising for instant friends to hang out with during the long wait in line (one’s mentions his sexuality, but assures it’s platonic). An unspecified media company is looking for reporters to do man-on-the-street interviews.

And another company claiming to be Apple is looking for people to hand out flyers. But the ad has typos, which makes one suspect it’s actually the Musty Chiffon Strip Club.

One of the infamous iPhone waiters at Apple’s 5th Ave. store has gone home to New Jersey for some shut eye, he writes on his blog.

In addition, Vicarious Music, the blog that first spotted the pair, reports that the line has now grown to five, but both chairs at the front of the line are empty.

Suspicious. Will the others hold their spots for the next three days?

An enterprising New Yorker has a small office for rent right above an AT&T store on 34th Street. The lease is very short. It expires on Friday, the day the iPhone goes on sale. It’s being offered as the perfect place to camp out for an iPhone.

The ad reads:

“small office space available. short term rental next week. directly above att 34th street store in manhattan. if you are camping out for the Iphone this is the place to hang out. limited number of spots available. bathroom and coffee. spots wont last! directly above main door to att. one flight up!”

Craigslist ad.

We’re trying out a new “beta” redesign here at Cult of Mac by the genius graphic designer Rob Beschizza, who is also a Wired News contributo.

The site may be slow for a few days and there may be glitches. Please us know if there’s any problems in the comments below. Please also leave your general feedback.

– Graphics are not final; big files might make for longer download
times or poor performance on slow machines.

– Beware general oddness; there’s some rough, invalid markup, etc.

– Transparent PNGs will look messed up on IE6. Upgrade! But IE6
detection is coming.

Normally, I wouldn’t believe any photos of iPhone use this close to launch, but the above picture of three of the devices from 9to5Mac looks too crummy to be fake. Has the first outside blogger wrangled a collection of the mighty phones?

Via MacRumors

Apple always does things its own way, so it’s little surprise that the iPhone presence in AT&T stores will look radically different from the other fixtures in the store. Crunchgear managed to snap off the above shot from a Seattle AT&T of a new iPhone kiosk, which loops through the amazing device’s UI. The site claims the shelf has a variety of docking and charging options for visitors.

Technorati Tags: ad, iphone

An anonymous tipster sent me this screenshot from NBC’s new series Chuck, written by OC creator Josh Schwartz. In the show, premiering this fall, a guy named Chuck receives all of the spy secrets in the world via a friend who steals them from the most powerful computer in the world: A Mac Classic.

Nice.

As you might expect for a major product launching on Friday, the iPhone has arrived stateside. According to AppleInsider, the much anticipated devices touched down over the weekend in a variety of locations. A bit more surprising is that Apple apparently had armed guards on hand to ensure a smooth arrival.

Awaiting the freight at each location on Sunday were armed personnel, who were reportedly hired by Apple through its courier’s ground handling agent and then cleared by the Transportation Security Administration. Armed guards are extremely unusual for freight coming out of the Asian sector, those familiar with the matter explained, and are typically reserved for shipments containing riches such as gold and diamonds.

Once on the ground, the iPhone shipments were to be broken down under the watch of the armed personnel, who would then observe the loading of the freight onto ground vehicles and become party to its transportation outbound.

You hear that? The iPhone is made of gold and diamonds! Will the magical features never cease?

Via Apple 2.0

Been wondering just who is actually camping out to buy the iPhone when it gets released? Wonder no longer. Gizmodo has an interview with the lucky guy out front of the Apple Store in New York, and, let’s just say I don’t think they would hire him to dance in an iPod commercial.

Still, he’s going to have an iPhone on Friday, and I’m not. What’s dignity worth, anyway?

Technorati Tags: genius bar, iphone

Philip Elmer-Dewitt, author of the excellent Apple 2.0 blog, has rounded up the blogosphere’s analyses of Apple’s new guided iPhone tour. Definitely check the list out – it’s really awesome that Apple built in read-only support for PDFs, Word docs and Excel spreadsheets. A friend from Toronto showed me a PowerPoint slideshow on his Motorola Q. Having seen that, I’m desperate for Apple to do the same thing. You listening, Cupertino?

Technorati Tags: iphone, rumor

In case you haven’t heard, this weekend marked the iPhone’s coming out party. Though the iPhone actually goes on sale this Friday, Apple employees decided to take the iPhone out into the world one week early. How do I know? Two personal acquaintances ran into Apple folks breaking out their 3-in-1 revolutionary devices in San Francisco on Saturday.

One works in a retail store and saw the iPhone-bearer pull out the device when he couldn’t remember the name of a book he was looking for. He was very careful not to show the screen. It was a discrete way to show off.

At the other end of the spectrum lies the doofus in the skull t-shirt above. A friend of mine caught him at a party. Check his texts about it:

I’m at this party with a bunch of [company name deleted] people, and this dude from apple is conspicuously busting out his iphone.

After I requested the photo you see above, here’s the note of his reply:

Someone told me not to do it bc he could get in trouble… Well maybe he shouldn’t be flashing it around at a party! I refuse to jock even though it’s a research op.

That’s how brazen Apple folks were with their iPhones these days.

It seems there’s more people looking for iPhone waiters on Craigslist than waiters available to wait.
In New York especially, waiters are in high demand. One particularly desperate guy wants his waiter to start camping out on Wed night — 60 hours before the iPhone goes on sale. (“I need an iPhone. Like, really need an iPhone.”)

But here’s the really galling part. He wants waiters with experience! “Interested applicants should have experience waiting in line,” the ad says.

The full desperate text:

Updated: Get Paid To Wait In Line… For An iPhone (Midtown)
“Ok, so here’s the deal. I need an iPhone. Like, really need an iPhone. It’s so bad, I’ve taken to carrying around my paper cut-out just to get used to the size. ANYWAY, I’m looking for 1 or 2 industrious folks to setup camp outside the 5th Avenue Apple Store 6:00am, Wednesday the 27th until 6:00pm on Friday the 29th. That’s 60 hours of chilling and doing nothing… and getting paid. Or maybe getting your very own iPhone if we can buy more than 1! Interested applicants should have experience waiting in line. You are responsible for any supplies, food, etc. that you may need during your stay. If you want to be considered for this rather bizarre, very odd, and slightly fun assignment, please get in touch right away…”

Meanwhile, in L.A, waiters must be reliable and focused; in San Francisco, creeps and criminals need not apply; and in NYC, security in apparently not an issue.

More ads after the jump…

Apple has become the third largest music retailer in the U.S., besting Amazon in fourth, according to the latest quarterly survey by NPD Group.

Apple now has a 10 percent market share behind Wal-Mart (15.8 percent) and Best Buy (13.8).

Previously in fifth place, Apple leapt over Target and Amazon.

NPD said Apple benefitted from sales of iPods over the holidays, and a slowdown in CD sales. Year-on0year, CD sales are down by 20 percent in the first quarter, according ot Nielsen Soundscan.

Apple and Amazon are the only companies in the top 10 that sell digital downloads.

Reuters.

Pic by ShadowzBlog

There are waiters advertising on Craigslist these days — iPhone waiters, that is.

Several people are advertising on Craigslist their willingness to line up for others for an iPhone later this week — for a fee, of course. The going rate is about $250 a day — 6AM to 6PM, when the device goes on sale.

Some have suggested this service will be performed by desperate homeless people, but a quick survey of the ads suggests that unemployed clowns make up the ranks of iPhone waiters.

“3 clowns, unemployed and hungry, willing to wait in line for three separate individuals, 250 a pop, guaranteeing you get yourselves that tasty little iPhone,” says a San Francisco ad: iPhone Professional Waiters – $250 (downtown / civic / van ness)

The same clowns, or perhaps stunt doubles, are willing to wait in line in New York:

“2 clowns, unemployed and hungry, willing to wait in line for two separate individuals, 250 a pop, guaranteeing you get yourselves that tasty little iPhone on June 29th! email me asap, I will spend all day and night that day and bring it to you!” — Need an iPhone? I’ll WAIT ON LINE FOR YOU for TWO ppl! – $250 (Upper West Side)

Here’s a few more:
New York
WHO NEEDS AN APPLE IPHONE
Student willing to stand in line overnight for iPhone release. Will either buy and deliver or hold spot in line .
Danville, Calif.
YOU WANT AN IPHONE I WANT TO STAND IN LINE
Los Angeles
Professional line waiters near Pasadena! Guaranteed to get an iPhone on the 29th. Multiple waiters available upon request. For more info email me.
and another:
Will Stand In Line For a IPhone for peole who can’t

iPhone Wallpaper

Originally uploaded by zeronine.

There’s a slick iPhone ad shot in New York City at iPhoneNewYorkCity.com. It’s clearly made by pros — there was a casting call in April — but there’s no info on the ad’s site except the creators’ names: Alec Sutherland, Anthony Hechanova, Todd DosSantos and Shane Annas.

Reminds me of George Master’s unofficial iPod ad.