And So It Begins…

Click Read More for live coverage of iPhone’s launch day, iDay. We’re live at AT&T wireless stores, in the front of the line.

Because of the frequent updating, this post will be set in reverse-order (latest coverage is at the top)…

Update (7:00 PM) We’ve had the (first-sold-on-west-coast) iPhone for an hour, here are the remainder of photos in our gallery. Photos are of varying quality, thanks to the Nokia N75 2 megapixel camera.

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Update (4:30 PM): The store has closed to prep for the release. We’ll be going text-only from here on out, we’ll be posting all the photos (including the unboxing) as soon after 6 PM as possible.

Update (4:10 PM): Apologies for the delay in live blogging. There were two reasons. First, the Amazon.com stork delivered a 3G Nokia N75 (which our crack team of support crew delivered to the line). Since there’s no penalty, why not get a 3G S60 phone for only $40? Unfortunately, they didn’t provision it right, so one of our favorite staffers at the store (Tom… we’ve known him for years) fixed the problem, but it took five help desk calls.

The other problem was the media. We’ve done two TV interviews, and an extensive newspaper interview. Add to it the sun prompting mass-sunscreen usage, and that took up most of the time. Did I mention our Clearwire connection gave out (turns out the router broke).

The good news? Store says that there are still enough units to meet demand, despite the line wrapping around the store. They can’t give out numbers of units, but they do say that 80% of the units are 8 GB iPhones. Also, like has been reported elsewhere, nobody seems to have any stock of the Apple Mono Bluetooth Headset.

Update (10:50 AM): We wanted to post a reminder that is getting a lot of people excited. Since there is no penalty for existing customer purchasing iPhone, you probably will want to get a cheap-or-free phone first, even if you’re a new customer. Basically, the discounted phone (like a $50 3G RAZR) sets your contract to two years. Then, buy the iPhone, which resets the contract to two years.

Essentially, if you are elegible for a discount on a phone (either as a new customer or renewing), you get two phones for the price of one. You can keep the free phone as a backup, use it as a 3G phone (for phone-as-modem, just SIM-swap with the iPhone), or you can eBay it and recover $150 to $200 off the cost of iPhone. Hey, you’re getting stuck with a 2-year contract either way, why not make it work for you?

We’ve got a lot of people in line headed into the AT&T store to do it, and while the reps hesitated, they confirmed it was completely valid to do, without any penalties.

Update (10:15 AM): We made the news… and I just gave a 5 minute interview, so, if you’re in the Redding/Chico, CA area, you’ll see an interview tonight. (Note, I don’t live in Chico, I just trekked up here to avoid the metro madness).

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Update (5:20 AM): There is actually a line of three people now. The AT&T store yesterday gave numbers to expect between 15 and 20 units, with 20 still being a “safe number” to expect. Of course, not taking any chances on being forced to buy the wrong iPhone (8 GB > 4 GB). So, as the sun rises, all I can say is, I’m tired already. 12 hours, 40 minutes to go….

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Here we sit, outside an AT&T store, waiting for iPhone. Enjoy hours of muttering from yours truly while you sleep.

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