Eager customers snap up iPhones

SAN FRANCISCO — Hundreds of people who lined up to be among the first to get their hands on Apple Inc.'s coveted iPhone are now the braggarts and guinea pigs for the latest must-have, cutting-edge piece of techno-wizardry.

The doors of Apple and AT&T stores opened promptly at 6 p.m. EDT with cheers from employees and eager customers.

"I'm glad it's over," said Carlos Sanchez, 19, at the Apple Fifth Avenue store in New York City, clutching shopping bags containing two iPhones — the maximum allowed per person. "I don't have to sleep outside anymore."

Techies, exhibitionists and luminaries — even the co-founder of Apple and the mayor of Philadelphia — were among the inaugural group of iPhone customers.

Because Apple designed a new way for customers to activate the cell phone service from AT&T, by logging onto Apple's iTunes software from their computers, many buyers headed straight home to christen the device.

In Newton, Mass., Khu Duong, 30, said he was excited but, "I'm afraid to open it. You want to sit down and relax."

Fellow customer Nick Seaver, 21, couldn't wait. He flipped open his Mac laptop right in the mall, and paid $5 to use the wireless network to get online and activate it. But because his current service contract with Verizon was set to expire the next day, Seaver got a computer message from iTunes he would have to wait 24 hours before his iPhone worked.

Will all the waiting have been worth it? For many, it didn't seem to matter.

"I just love getting new stuff," said retiree Len Edgerly, who arrived at 3 a.m. Friday to be first in line outside an Apple store in Cambridge, Mass. "It's the best new thing that's come along in a long time. It's beautiful."

Even Steve Wozniak, the ex-partner of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, showed up at a Silicon Valley mall at 4 a.m. aboard his Segway scooter. He helped keep order in the line outside the Apple store.

The other customers awarded the honorary first spot in line to Wozniak, who planned to buy two iPhones Friday even though he remains an Apple employee and will get a free one from the company next month. He said the device would redefine cell phone design and use.

"Look how great the iPod turned out," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "So who wants to miss that revolution? That's why there's all this big hype for the iPhone."