The last couple of days the big news in the non-gaming tech world is how Judge James Ware of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has allowed a 2007 lawsuit to gain class action status.  This lawsuit alleges that AT&T and Apple have broken antitrust laws by signing an exclusive agreement that kept the iPhone with AT&T for 5 years, even though consumers signed up for a two year contract which in some weird technical way locked the consumer to AT&T for 5 years.

Here is where things start not making sense to me.  Before you sign a new contract with a carrier you should already know the terms.  Now granted we're not going to sit there and read 20+ pages of legalize, read: bullshit, to get your new phone, but we do know the basics.  "Ok, I am buying this phone and stuck with your sorry ass service for 2 years.  Gotcha"  Now where did anyone think that after two years you can take that phone and go anywhere?  I really don't understand the thought process there.  Sure you are stuck paying for 2 years but then after that you're no longer under contract.  No one said you can goto another carrier with that phone.

Now don't get me wrong, I am by far not for the carriers at all.  They all suck to some degree, whether it's SprintPCS horrible customer service or AT&T dropping or calls, or Verizon's crazy ETFs they all have something to piss someone off.  Maybe it's just me but I don't see a problem with this system.  If you do please let me know I'd love to discuss it with you at length.

Another part of the class action suit that doesn't make sense is about how the Cupertino, CA based company Apple Inc disallows anything that's not in their App store.  Anyone who argues this just gives me a headache.  Why and how can anyone get upset about this?  Another part that I attribute to the consumer.  Do your homework!  Who told you that you could install your own Apps from some other place?  The Apple iPhone was designed by ... wait for it ... Apple and was designed to run ... Apple approved Apps.  What's the problem?  When you buy some low-end flip phone no one complains?  Why?

The parties listed in the lawsuit claim that these unfair acts apparently hurt competition which I really don't see how.  Perhaps Google should have made a better phone than the Nexus One to compete with the iPhone.  Don't get me wrong I think the Android OS is fantastic, and as a huge Google fan, I hope to see Google really push the OS the way they have for a long long time.

Is it because after 50 million iPhones sold in the last three years people think Apple is loaded, which they are, that a few lawsuit settlements won't hurt them and some consumers are trying to get a piece of the pie?  Is this a real problem?  Not allowing 3rd party apps and not allowing the iPhone on Verizon or SprintPCS?  Don't those carriers have Android phones?  I don't understand.  Someone explain it to me!

So for the last couple of weeks Norton AntiVirus 2010 has been telling me that my subscription is about to expire.  Ugh!  How did a year go by so fast!  Oh well, I checked out the subscription prices and was amazed at the cost to renew my subscription.  No deal, no discount, Might as well go out to Best Buy, Microcenter, or wherever and buy a retail copy for the same price.  Meh... Bullshit.  But whatever, I like Norton.  Time goes on and I pay no pay no mind to the renewal boxes.  I figured that once the subscription expired I would still be covered but the AV signature files would no longer be updated which didn't seem like that big deal, I've done that before..

Not so much grasshopper!

I don't know about other AV software but apparently once the subscription expires it doesn't just mean that your signature files are no longer updated.  It means you are no longer protected.  That's right!  When your subscription ends the condom breaks!  Norton just let's you surf the net exposed to all types of crap that's out there.  Thanks for the big FU Norton!  Now I've never been a fan of free AV software.  I dunno why, I mean it's free!  How good could it be?  Well I will be pointing my browser to AVG.com and downloading a copy.  Good bye Norton!  Thanks for everything.

In short, I got my iPhone 4.  Am I happy?  Hell ya!  Is the latest iPhone worth the money?  Definitely!  But more on that in another post...  What I want to talk about is the actual launch of the product.  What a disaster in my opinion.

Between lack of communication and miscommunication and assholes on line it was the most miserable launch I've experienced.  It all started at 8 PM.

I left my house and shot on over to the Roosevelt Field Mall Apple Store in Garden City, NY expecting to find an already large crowd based on the number of pre-orders that was received.  I asked a nice Apple employee where the line was starting.  Now if you're familiar with this location she told me the line will be outside the Burger King, which was literally 5 feet where I parked... Sweet!  She then told me that mall management/security isn't allowing anyone to line up till 4 am.  WHAT?!  Now that I had plenty of time I decided to grab dinner sit down, relax and try to figure out what the best course of action is.  After dinner I decided to take a slow walk to the car and sit play some games and kill some time.  By this points it's probably 9 pm.  I walk outside and I see people lining up at the door.  Sweet!

I lined up with them knowing that we'd probably be kicked off property anyway.  I was number 4 in line.  iPhone 4 was a sure thing for me in my mind.  30 minutes later, mall security showed up, most likely head security, and told us we need to leave.  We were told we are not allowed to line up till 5 am and that the line is not going to be here but downstairs, which is the beginning of the miscommunication...  Basically they told us they didn't want another Bieber event which caused chaos and arrests at the mall last year and they were not going to be responsible for people getting hurt or anything like that and was told that Apple doesn't care and just wants their publicity.  Fine... We were told that while we cannot park our cars on property but was told that they can't stop us from driving through property to check the progress of any lines.

1 am, I head back to the store after going home for a little while to check the situation, head down to the parking garage to see if there was anyone lining up.  People came to the parking garage, tried to park but were swiftly kicked out and told line starts at 5 am.  Alright so perhaps the line really won't start till 5 am. Right?  WRONG!!!  I came back at 2 am and found a line of roughly 100+ people.  WTF?!  I quickly parked the car and get online to start my 5 hour wait for the iPhone 4.  So much for the 4-5 am line up.

We waited approximately 3 hours in the bottom most portion of the parking garage with shitty ventilation which made it feel like a concrete oven.  Around 5 am we were told that Apple employees were going to come down and start separating out the folks that reserved their phone online to create a new reserve line.  Meh ok, I was unable to reserve my phone, oh well I expect to wait anyway.

Around 6 am Apple employees finally come down and start working the line and taking names of all those who have reserved the iPhone and told to stand in a new line.  After all was said and done I was now probably 80th or so, so again iPhone 4 was a very good possibility as I wasn't far from the beginning. By about 7 am there are probably anywhere to 350-500 people in the non-reserve line and probably close to the same in the reserve line.  Folks that were online also now had friends and relatives joining them online making the line even longer.  And around this time Apple starting taking people from the reserve line to purchase the phone.  Fair enough they did reserve it. They probably took 1-3 groups of 50 before taking any of the non-reserve folks.

Unfortunately sales weren't happening quickly like they should have and Apple continually took more and more groups from the reserve line before taking more from the non-reserves.  As temperatures in the parking garage rose so did our tempers. This was probably the hottest and most humid day of the year so far which also didn't help the situation.  Apple never gave any indication if they had enough phones for reserves or if there would be any phones left for the non-reserves.  Rumors were flying around that they were going to fill all the reserves prior to selling any to the non-reserves and that could be another 7-8 hours from this point.  Anytime you asked an Apple employee what the situation was they would merely shrug their shoulders, say sorry, and say that they aren't telling us what's going on either.  The non-reserve line hadn't moved for at least 2 hours with no word from Apple.

Everyone in the non-reserve line started complaining, even the assholes that had cut the line cause little Johnny saved their place since 2 am.  I am talking specially about you the family from hell, grandma, mom, and the dumb bitch daughter that starting screaming/cursing and throwing garbage on the floor cause they were unhappy that they waited 2 hours.  Fuck you! Harsh I know, but you didn't stand next to that miserable bunch.  After several complaints to Apple, management finally came downstairs, heard the complaints and appeased us by taking 25 people from our line, then nothing for another hour or two.

The reserve line was still moving decently, and most of them only waited an hour or so and most of them had slept the night before, showered, had breakfast, etc and were not as cranky as us.  The folks on the non-reserve line were smelly, cranky, hungry, tired, wet and sticky.  Humid out We were the most vocal of the bunch and after some more complaining Apple came down and finally took counts on what iPhone everyone was buying and how many they were buying (2 per person).  Also Apple started handing out drinks, sorbet, and cookies probably to prevent any liabilities, like death or injuries.

Again no word from Apple no time tables, no guarantees, no information what so ever.  After many more complaints and hostile customers, Apple took approximately 50 more people from the reserve line in an effort to move the line (which is the group I was in).  After this point I don't know what happened in the parking garage.  I don't know if Apple came down and said ok after this point in the non-reserve line you're not getting a phone or if they sold to everyone.  After just over 10+ hours I had my iPhone in hand and headed back to my car which was in the very same parking garage that we were waiting in and the lines were considerably shorter.  I was told by Apple employees that they did have I think 13 AT&T reps in house come help them to move the lines.

All in all a miserable experience.  But why?  What happened?  Like I said miscommunication.  I knew that without a reserve I was guaranteed nothing, I knew that I would have to wait and I knew that I may not get an iPhone.  Fair enough.  But what I don't understand is how/why Apple let their paying customers, DIE-HARD Apple fans, wait without telling us anything.  Had Apple just came out and told us look we are going to fill the reserves first or we are going to take 3-4 groups of 50 from the reserve line then take 25 from the reserve line or whatever the plan was it would have been much more tolerable.  The Apple store knew what kind of stock they had, they also know how many reserves they have.  There is absolutely no reason why it took Apple 4 hours to decide to take a head count and find out what iPhones people are buying.  Couple this with the lies and miscommunication from mall management/Apple about line up times.

Apple Corporate should never have allowed reserves.  This people didn't pay anything to reserve, they slept in their beds got there an hour or so before getting their phones.  I don't know how the lines worked at other locations, but definitely expect a much better experience and much better customer service from a flag ship Long Island Store.  Was it worth it? Yes I love my iPhone 4, but I can still bitch right?  Did you get an iPhone 4 after waiting at an Apple store?  Did you have a better/worse experience?  Let us know!

What do you mean pseudo live blog? Well unfortunately here at the Roosevelt Mall in NY there are not many open free WiFi spots so I will post updates as WiFi comes available...

6/23 - 8:38 pm. Arriving at the Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City/Carle Place NY. Current temperature outside is 90F and the temperature inside is abut 80F. Good times!!! Spoke to an Apple Store employee who advised me that the mall is not allowing anyone to line up till 4 am. Ugh!!! So I decided to stop at the food court and get a bite to eat and try to figure out what I'll be doing for the next couple of hours since there is no point on going home.

8:50 pm. Ok Belly is now full, time to roam around the mall aimlessly. Maybe I should ask everyone for a quarter and maybe I'll be able to pay for my new iPhone that way. =)

9:10. People are finally lining up.  Problem is security has already told us we can't line up but we can sit in our cars.  Local county police told us they are going to kick us out of the lot too.  Still here and haven't left.   Let's see what will happen.

10:00. Home.  Yep I am home.  Official word is no one is allowed to line up till 5 am.  DOH!  Was nice to be fourth on line, who knows what I'll be at 5am.  Apparently they don't want another Bieber event which is understandable.

6/24 8:00AM:  This is Josh..I'm posting an update for Jason..he's having wireless issues.  He is still in line.  He's says he feels "horrible, sweaty, dirty, angry and tired."

6/24 1:20PM: I have my new iPhone 4.  What a hellish night.  Sorry for the lack of posts as I didn't have WiFi and stupid didn't buy the 3G iPad.  *sigh*  Big update coming later tonight.  Stay Tuned...  PS.  iPhone 4 is friggin amazing!