On day 1, iPhone draws more older gadget geeks than young fans

Thousands of US gadget fans flocked to stores to be the first buyers of Apple8217;s iPhone, a music-playing and Web-browsing device expected to shake up the mobile industry. Crowds lined up at some of Apple8217;s outlets cheered as their doors opened at 6 pm, while smaller groups waited outside AT038;T stores. AT038;T Inc is the phone8217;s exclusive wireless carrier for the first two years, which many early reviewers cited as the phone8217;s biggest drawback. Judging by its first customers, the iPhone seemed to draw an older generation of gadget geeks rather than young fans who may have been put off by the price. The phones out there are just garbage. I8217;ve gone through several phones, even the expensive ones. This is different,8221; said Albert Livingstone in Chicago. 8220;It8217;s the newest toy. I8217;m 62 8212; I don8217;t have much time left to buy toys.8221;

8220;I haven8217;t slept in a day and a half,8221; said Grant Johnson, 41, an accountant from Brooklyn who was one of the first to walk out of Apple8217;s Fifth Avenue outlet clutching the prize. 8220;I need a nice hot shower and a bath.8221; Early hitches included a hiccup in AT038;T8217;s retail computer system that delayed some sales for 45 minutes, and a sluggish response from Apple8217;s online store shortly after it began offering iPhones. The iPhone melds a phone, Web browser and media player. Technology gurus praised it as a 8220;breakthrough8221; device, but questioned whether users would be unhappy with shortcomings such as its lack of a hardware keyboard and pokey Internet link. The light, svelte gadget is a gamble by Apple Inc co-founder and chief executive Steve Jobs to build upon his company8217;s best-selling iPod music player and expand the market for its software and media services. 8220;They want to extend the dominance they have in terms of their ability to create really elegant hardware and software integration,8221; said Mark McGuire, analyst with research firm Gartner. 8220;This is the next big business unit for them.8221;

Piper Jaffray said this month Apple could sell 45 million iPhones in 2009, which would put it on par in terms of revenue with its two key businesses, the Mac computer and the iPod. Talk of the iPhone rippled through the wireless industry before even a single unit had sold. Ed Colligan, chief executive of rival Palm Inc, said that sales of its Treo smartphone could 8220;stall8221; in the short term as people try out the iPhone.

Apple is due to sell it in Europe in the run up to this year8217;s holiday season and speculation has mounted it may reach a deal with Vodafone. Asian sales are expected in 2008. The US launch, which whipped tech lovers into the sort of frenzy usually associated with a new video game console, was seen as a test of wider US demand for the sort of advanced phones that are already popular in parts of Asia and Europe. Some early buyers aimed to make a profit on the iPhone by selling it. At an Apple store in downtown San Francisco where about 500 people had gathered, one young man walked out with a phone and began shouting a price: 8220;Fifteen-hundred, fifteen-hundred!8221;

In Hollywood, the event took on shades of another recent headline-grabbing phenomenon as Apple vice-president Greg Jozwiak emerged from a store to show off the device and was mobbed by the eager crowd.

8220;I now feel like Paris Hilton,8221; Jozwiak joked.