"Yeah, so it's no big deal," he replied.

"I heard the manager say the wait is about an hour," I told him. "So if you have to be at work..."

"Oh, no, I'm on vacation," he said. "But I gotta go. I've got (a date) lined up." He smiled, slapped me on my shoulder, and took off.

And, no, he didn't actually say "a date."

Many of those folks who arrived late and stuck around were chagrined to learn that the phone they wanted--the $199 16GB model--had sold out before the store even opened. All white 16GB models were gone by 6:20 a.m. By the time 7 a.m. rolled around and the store let in customers who didn't reserve a phone in advance, all of the black 16GB phones were gone, too.