APPLE FANS BRACE FOR iPHONE RACE.Byline: Eric Florip The Register-Guard For Apple fans, tonight will bring excitement. For AT&T and Apple employees, it could feel more like unwanted stress. That's because Apple will release its highly anticipated iPhone tonight at 6, ending months of hype hype 1 Slang n. 1. Excessive publicity and the ensuing commotion: the hype surrounding the murder trial. 2. and speculation surrounding sur·round tr.v. sur·round·ed, sur·round·ing, sur·rounds 1. To extend on all sides of simultaneously; encircle. 2. To enclose or confine on all sides so as to bar escape or outside communication. n. the do-it-all device. Some Apple stores across the country reported lines forming as early as Monday to get the technological equivalent of a Swiss Army knife, which sells for $499 or $599, depending on the version. Eugene-Springfield residents can only get their hands on one at the area's two AT&T retail stores - one near Valley River Center Valley River Center is a shopping mall located in Eugene, Oregon. As the largest shopping center south of Portland and north of San Francisco, this mall comprises over 130 local and national stores and restaurants. and one off West 11th Avenue in Eugene - though neither store had lines Thursday evening. But the increasing hype also has discouraged dis·cour·age tr.v. dis·cour·aged, dis·cour·ag·ing, dis·cour·ag·es 1. To deprive of confidence, hope, or spirit. 2. To hamper by discouraging; deter. 3. some from trying to score an iPhone of their own - at least for now. "There's no way I'd try to get one tomorrow night. It's just going to be crazy," Clinton Mahler said on Thursday. Mahler, who works at The Mac Store in downtown Eugene, said he still planned to purchase one within a month. Through an agreement with Apple, AT&T has exclusive rights to sell the product and carry the phone service. Three Apple stores, all in the Portland area, also will sell iPhones. Among the gadget's more noteworthy features are its almost entirely touch-screen enabled functions, and its ability to operate as a phone, media player and Internet browser See Web browser. . All this on a device that's less than a half-inch thick. But Apple has been through this before, said Dick Lennox, president and 25-year member of the Eugene Macintosh user group See MUG. . The company generated similar interest from its first Macintosh computer in 1984, and more recently from the iPod's debut in 2001, Lennox said. He said most of Apple's successes have come from making its products intuitive and easy to use. But even with a larger hype machine than he can remember from Apple, Lennox, 58, said he didn't plan to buy an iPhone. "I'd really love to, but it's like I'm not really a phone guy," he said. AT&T stores nationwide have prepared for the release by hiring an extra 2,000 employees in the past month alone, said regional sales manager sales manager n → gerente m/f de ventas sales manager n → directeur commercial sales manager sale n → Jon Biggins, whose area includes southwest Oregon. In Eugene, that translates to a few extra hands in each of the company's two stores. "We don't even do this for the holiday selling season, so this is pretty crazy for us," Biggins said. Each store will close at 4:30 p.m. to set up displays and merchandise before reopening Reopening Treasury offerings of additional amounts of outstanding issues, rather than an entirely new issue. A reopened issue will always have the same maturity date, CUSIP number, and interest rate as the original issue. for the release at 6 p.m. AT&T employees said they've never seen so much buzz surrounding one device. "The hype is definitely there, for sure," said Phil Villanueva, a salesman at the AT&T store near Valley River. GOTTA got·ta Informal Contraction of got to: I gotta go home. HAVE IT? The Apple iPhone debuts today at 6 p.m. at AT&T stores Valley River Center: 1125B Valley River Drive Other store: 4385 Commerce St. |
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