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I sent a letter to the owners of the Rosedale mall to ask for permission to shoot the crowds waiting for the iPhone. I only got a reply the next day, after already getting tons of photos, but he was more interested in my opinion of what he describes as Apples 'unconventional methods'

Here's a link to the VP and General Manager of the company that owns Rosedale Mall:
http://www.myrosedale.com/go/services.cfm?type=cu

Here is his reply

"Riaz, if you have the time to do it and wouldn't mind, I would love to hear some of your impressions of the day. The whole approach Apple had to their launch was on many levels unconventional, and the thoughts of one who had been there would be interesting, to say the least." ~ Rollin Hunsicker

and my impressions of the day:

"It was expertly handled i thought. Apple had a large countdown clock
in the window to keep everyone informed. They handed out tickets that
looked like iPhones to guarantee the people in line that they would
receive one, preventing anyone from waiting in line for nothing. The
lines were quiet and didn't seem to bother anyone else.

A few other vendors, with some entrepreneurial spirit left in them,
capitalized on the crowd with hand out pamphlets, but no one except
caribou coffee free water had any thing to offer the crowds.

When the countdown reached 1 minute the crowds were getting ready to
be excited for the opening when preemptively, before everyone got all
hyped up, they opened the doors and allowed a counted number in at a
time, thus diffusing any wildness from waiting till the end of
countdown. I was expecting a audible countdown but they opened the
doors a minute early before any got over excited, very clever.

I saw a few people being told not to use cameras, but critical mass
won over because there were hundreds of people with cameras. So i
would say that the guards were a little too anxious, which is not good
for a crowd, the Apple employees were very well prepared for the crowd
dynamics. So it went of without a hitch. The other neighboring vendors
got free extended exposure from the people sitting there and interest
generated from them.

I got my iPhone after waiting in the line for about 20min after the
opening and have it now listed for sale on eBay where they have been
selling for around 20-30% higher.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120137543966
"

And the Photos: