This is our IT guy. If Outlook crashes today, we’re
screwed.Photo: Al Lee
Though the iPhone freaks have been lining up outside the Fifth Avenue Apple Store since last weekend, anxiously awaiting tomorrow’s release of that shiny new toy everyone keeps talking about, the Apple store in Soho — our hood — hasn’t seen much action. That is, until 7:30 a.m. this morning, when Robert Lisbon set up camp and proudly laid claim to the title of First Person in Line. And, coincidentally, he happens to be one of our talented, genius IT guys — he’s using a vacation day to chill out on Prince Street and be That Guy. When it came to our attention that we actually knew That Guy, we had to ask him for some reports from the scene. Herewith, his collected observations:
• “A lot of people are stopping and asking if I can hold them a spot for when they come back around four. Or they’re taking down my number to call later and see how long the line is — they wanna use me as a watchperson.”
• “I just had a guy try to sell me a bootleg (Chinese) iPhone saying it’s the new 3G one. He wanted $500 for it.”
• “Four journalists have come up to me to write stories.”
• “Why am I out here? I have no sense! I’m comfortable. I ordered food from SeamlessWeb. I’ve got my chopsticks. Japanese Fusion.”
• “Tourists are taking video and pictures of me. Someone wanted to hold my hand and take a — wait, sorry, someone just asked me again if I could hold them a spot and they could call me.”
• “Mac Geniuses are giving me a little grief because I’m on an IBM Thinkpad.”
• “A police car just drove by, and the cop gave me a thumbs-up.”
• “Whoopi Goldberg just patted me on the shoulder and said, ‘Good job!’”
Does this mean Whoopi’s an iPhone fan? We really can’t see her fussing with the touch screen. —Jessica Coen
Earlier: Walking the iPhone Line
