After the initial "rush" to cover the iPhone launch at Apple's Palo Alto store, the UberPulse team had a chance to play with the phone. Here are our first impressions one the device: We liked: - the beautiful design/screen;...

At the iPhone launch, inside the Apple stores felt a little bit like Las Vegas casinos! Money, credit cards and cash, are flowing to Apple registers like... water, hot cakes... pick your own! But the most amazing is that shoppers...

This is was the $600 question to San Francisco programmer Leah Culver... but I'm sure she'll find a good way to amortise her investment... perhaps hacking the phone and create some cool un-authorised apps, to start with... and perhaps...

This lady at the Palo Alto store brought cash to pay for her iPhone... hope that was not the month's rent ;-)...

It was quite fun to see how the Apple staff "managed" the media crowd, both the "broadcasts"/TVs, the "stills"/photographers and the rest of us (video bloggers and traditional pen-based reporters!). We were lucky to get in with the "stills"....

This is another look, this time from outside the Palo Alto Apple store, of Steve Jobs talking to some of his old co-workers/friends of the first Macintosh era....

Hooray! The first customers in line are now out the Palo Alto Apple store door... Patrick of course... his dad Robert Scobble and San Francisco programmer Leah Culver (picture)....

So here we are... the final countdown... think of it as the New Year countdown but in the middle of Summer! Well, now is the moment that hundreds of Apple fans in Palo Alto were waiting for... and for...

The weather in Palo Alto is warm and nice... but in front of the Apple store, it's really really hot... And just to kick up the adrenaline a notch two Apple store staff decided to face the crowd to...

Early customers are getting themselves ready for the "grand" opening. The small space near the store entrance was so crowded with media people (TV, newspaper and bloggers) and, which is funny enough to be mentioned, the chair and pouch...

It's Friday afternoon (June 29th, 2007) and there are about 150-200 people waiting in line outside Apple's Palo Alto store. Not much considering all the hype though....