Line Forms at Apple Store for iPhone 4S Launch

On Friday morning, a line snaked around the as customers from near and afar waited upwards of an hour to purchase the newest iPhone 4S, which was released today.

Apple employees handed them black umbrellas with a white Apple logo as they staked out a spot in the 87 degree heat. The line stretched up Kipling street. Some customers had extra free time to wait, whereas others took time off work to make the latest upgrade.

Dan Veenstra of Sacramento stepped away from his Sunnyvale job for a few hours to purchase the phone, which is priced at $199 and up. “I’m the boss, so I can,” he laughed. For him, the biggest draw of the new model is the voice recognition software -- helpful over his long commutes, he said.

Almost at the entrance, he had been waiting for over a half hour -- a time that paled in comparison to the 12 hours he said he waited in Sacramento for the iPhone 4.

For Adam Crabtree of Mountain View, the launch came at the perfect time. “My contract’s up, and my 3GS is all banged up,” he said from under his umbrella at around 10:30 a.m.

“For me, the iPhone is just the best out there,” added Ashley Crabtree. Both had been waiting for about a half hour.

The line formed around 7:30 a.m., right before the store opened, according to an Apple spokesperson. The normal opening time is 10 a.m. Yet those seeking products other than the iPhone 4S have been allowed to enter the store without waiting.

The launch provided a prime business opportunity, as local coffee and frozen yogurt shops frequented the line, taking orders or handing out samples.

Melinda Cootsona of Menlo Park also waited with two friends before purchasing phones for both her and her husband. “My husband has the first model and I have the second, so we both wanted to get another one,” she said, slowly nearing the corner of University and Kipling.

Over the past two weeks, the Palo Alto Apple store , but they were there with a difference purpose: lacing the windows with sticky notes comemorating Steve Jobs, who died on October 5. As customers waited, they read the myriad of colorful memos that coated the entire front window, some adding their own.