So I went on the subway again and got off at Times Square.
that happened outside ...
Where is the new Apple Store and what is the difference between an avenue and a street?
Okay, okay, I'm searching for a big white and black building - there is one over there, no, that's not the GM Building.
Ahh, well, I finally found it after walking all the way from Times Square to 5th Avenue and 59th Street.
My position in the que: Number 6 and apparently the first one that is not from the US.
It is now 4 pm and the store will open in 26 hours.
We were interviewed by WCBS and saw Ron Johnson (Sr. VP of Apple Retail) on the plaza - the roof of the Apple Store.
As it turns out, the glass cube only serves as an entrance to the store.
Around 7 pm we met Jason who asked us join him and a colleague of his for dinner. We had spicy Indian food and spent some time indoors which was nice because it allowed our clothes to dry.
Yeah, we had some rain that Thursday. The first half of the night went okay.
Late at night, someone made a delivery for Apple. I didn't get the full picture here but she was supposed to be from the company that did the staircase and she delivered some spare metal bolts. (see discussion on the bolts)
A few ones entered the cue. We were about a dozen at midnight. Stormy went to Gary's hotel room to get some sleep. Gary eventually came back that night.
I went to my hotel at around 4 am for a good 90 minutes of sleep and a sweater.
I arrived back at the store at 6:30 am. GM security told us they would build a security fence at 8 am which didn't happen until noon.
But something else happened that morning: Steve Jobs appeared at 10 am. Ron gave Steve the big tour. Steve posed in front of the door with Ron and the architect of the store and was joined by a few unknown vips before they entered the store.
Steve also did a testrun in the glass elevator. He then met with his wife Laurene Powell on the street and went inside the store with her.
A few more TV stations appeared, the AP did a few interviews and ...
I got interviewed by german television.
T -20 min: The staff was shouting downstairs.
T -15 min: The staff appeared on the plaza and cheered everyone up. Steven (#8) proposed to his girlfriend Patti and she accepted!
T -1 min: Someone started a countdown 60, 59, 58 ... apparently Ron's watch said something else. He smiled but joined everyone else, 37, 36 ... someone else was standing next to Steve and his wife - Lisa? No one confirmed that and it seems unlikely, 3, 2, 1 ...
T +0 min: Wohoo! The Apple store is now open, 24/7. Stormy shakes hands with Steve. Wow.
The store is just one large room. The staircase is as expected all glass as is the elevator. There is no theater. There are no overhead signs that tell you where stuff is (see my SoHo pictures).
To those people who think we are crazy: Apple gave away 2500 t-shirts, they gave away a MacBook every hour in the first 24 hours, nothing was "on sale" (no special offers, no rebates). Yes, you could say that Apple is being cheap here. (and I have to agree a little bit)
