On the eve of the iPhone 3G launch, I wanted to see if there'll actually be some people lining up at 3 of the Bay Area's Apple stores: on University avenue in Palo Alto (pictured), at San Jose Valley Fair Mall and downtown Los Gatos. And sure enough, yes, like everywhere else in the world there were the hardcore Apple fans waiting to buy the iPhone 3G. Although I think most of them are looking for some good publicity!

The Apple store in Palo Alto was the busiest of all with about 30-40 people lining up (as of 11PM-ish) with an NBC News TV crew standing. I've interviewed the first people in line: 17-year-old Danny Fukuba and Santa Cruz based Obama supporter looking for publicity for his blog.

Interview of Danny Fukuba



Meanwhile at Valley Fair Mall

At Valley Fair Mall, the line was less than 10 people long with not much action. The mall doors were open o let the Apple fans go inside (looks like a ghost mall... everything was closed) and sleep in front of the Apple store. Much safer and warmer that way than on the streets of Palo Alto. There, I talked to the second in line who's waiting to buy 2 iPhone 3G 16GB, one for his wife too!



... and in Los Gatos

I ended my tour past midnight in Los Gatos where a group of joyful young people were preparing to camp in front of the store. One of them, Claire, intends to challenge the Apple employees to force her to subscribe for an AT&T data/voice plan. Good luck!