Fans Crowd Mall Early as New iPhone Released

Walt Whitman Mall was a hotspot this morning as Apple fans lined up to purchase the new iPhone 4G.

"I've been here since midnight. I hope I get one, but I don't think I will," Frank Pirmo, of Dix Hills said at 7:30 a.m. while waiting on line inside the Walt Whitman Mall. Primo was one of the lucky "non-reservation" customers to have made it inside–after a seven-and-a-half hour wait.

Apple's store at Walt Whitman Mall had two lines–inside and outside of the entrance leading up to the store, on the side of Bloomingdale's. To the left of the mall entrance was for reservations and to the right was for hopefuls, many of whom will be turned away at end of business day.

Reservations were made online, via the Apple Store app on the iPhone, and through AT&T. Those online placed orders with Apple and received a confirmation email–their ticket into the store and onto the reservation line.

"Apple's been really great. They had scones, coffee, water…they just could have been a little more organized," Brian Herlich, of Melville, said. Herlich had been waiting on line since midnight as well. He was shut out of reservations when Apple opened up the website on June 15.

"I tried to pre-order it, but they stopped taking reservations, so I'm here. Best Buy only had 5, so I thought Apple was a better chance. I'm number 46, based on the list Apple tried to put together last night, and I got here at 11:30 p.m. There were people at the front of the line here from noon yesterday," Caroline Mule, of Huntington said.

Rob, an Apple sales associate, provided a little insight to what was going on behind the scene.

"We've been working around the clock. I got here at 6:00 a.m., but some people have been here since last night," Rob said.

Although he couldn't say how many reservations were placed, Rob did confirm that "a lot" of people were waiting on both lines and that they were still "organized."

"I hope people stay positive," Rob said.

As for the phone itself, Rob is most curious about the new video-conferencing ability, nicknamed "FaceTime."

"We demonstrated it this morning, it's pretty cool," Rob said.

Steven Ewal, of Huntington, was concerned about making it to work on time. He arrived at Walt Whitman at 4 a.m.

"I don't know if I'll get it. The Apple representative is no optimistic. When I got here I lined up at the far end of the mall and then at 5:30 a.m. they let us line up by Bloomingdales, near the entrance to the Apple store," Ewal said.

Dana Brown, of Huntington, was able to reserve her phone online, however still waited three hours.

"I had a hard time reserving it. I called the store to confirm my reservation because I didn't get an email. I can't wait for the video calling, I'll definitely use it," Brown said, while playing with her old 3G iPhone.

Arthur Gendlin, of Forest Hills, didn't try to reserve his online and showed up at Walt Whitman at 5:30 a.m. "keeping his fingers crossed" for a chance to score a 4G, all the while assuming he wouldn't get one.

Suffolk County Police, Mall Security and the entire Apple Store staff was on hand to keep the crowd under control. The crowd continued to grow steadily until 9:30 a.m., and as one Plainview resident say "It will still be long when I come back after work at 6 p.m."