It’s a quiet night here in downtown Walnut Creek, Calif. In hopes of picking up a brand new iPhone 5S before starting work tomorrow, I’ve brought a lawn chair down to the Apple Store to endure the long night’s journey into day until 8 o’clock tomorrow morning.
Since I hurried over after filing my last article for the day, I’m 14th in line. The first guy who got here showed up at noon yesterday. Right now there are about 20 of us waiting, though by the time morning comes I fully expect the line to wrap around the block.
We were all brought here by the lack of pre-orders for the 5S. In an unusual move, Apple didn’t offer advance orders for the iPhone 5S, just for the iPhone 5C. I know a fair number of my fellow campers are anxious to pick up the gold edition of Apple’s new phone, which is rumored to be in short supply.
Right now, though, we’re all camping out, waiting until morning for a chance at the next iPhone. Here’s a panorama of the scene, as viewed from my lawn chair …
