Dori Graham and her 17-year-old daughter, Joscelyn, were also abandoning Verizon Wireless for AT&T. Joscelyn, who just graduated from high school in Alta Loma, says she really wants the phone to help manage her schedule when she begins attending classes at Mt. San Antonio College in the fall. "I want to be able to get on the Internet from anywhere," she told me. "And I really need the calendar, so MobileMe will be a big help, I think."

As is always the case at an Apple release event, there was no shortage of ardent fans. (I hesitate to apply the term or because they're all so nice and fun to talk to.) Jim Applewhite II, 23, and his friend Jia Clark, 26, came in from San Bernardino. Applewhite described himself as a "big Apple fan."

"I've got everything," the Chaffey College business student said.

Applewhite, who was tooling around with a MacBook Pro, extolled the "whole lifestyle... the easiness" associated with his Apple gear. "I had a Blackberry for awhile," he said. "It was too much work."

Although Applewhite was excited about getting a black 32GB phone, and especially the new video camera, he felt like something was missing. "I really wanted video chat," he said. "If Apple ever does that, they'll be on top of the world in competing in this market."