He also questioned some of the new phone's features. "A compass? Who needs that?"

"Well," interjected Clark, "you're not really outdoorsy."

"I know," Applewhite replied. "But who is? Are Apple customers? I don't know..."

Well, Ann Marie Brown thinks the compass is just dandy, thanks. She drove 25 miles from Claremont to get her new iPhone, which would be her third. Brown is the only person I've met in my 15 years in journalism who actually shook my hand when I identified myself as a writer. (I think the publication probably had something to do with it.) Brown was also one of several customers, like Applewhite, whom Apple Store staffers greeted personally. "They know me here," she told me as an employee escorted her inside.

Brown spoke with the zeal of a convert, which, as it happens, she is.