NEW MEANING FOR CALL WAITING SOME PAID UP TO $750 JUST TO LINE UP.

Byline: PATRICIA FARRELL AIDEM

Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- No question Apple Inc. will rake in the cash with the release of its long-awaited iPhone, but a few industrious types, content with their old flip phones, got a piece of the action Friday as paid space-holders in lines that formed hours before the newest must-have gadget made it to store shelves.

Nick Redmond, 21, cut a deal with a member at the golf club where he works to make $300 -- and as much as $750 if his client ran late -- to wait in line outside a Valencia AT&T store.

"I don't even want the phone," said Redmond, who arrived about 9 p.m. Thursday and spent the night in a sleeping bag on concrete. The new cell phones were due to go on sale at 6 p.m. Friday.

The stories were similar at several Santa Clarita Valley AT&T stores, the chain with the exclusive deal with Apple to sell the new generation of "smart" phones.

By 8 a.m., lines of some 20 to 25 people had formed at stores in Stevenson Ranch, Valencia and Saugus. About half the people waiting in the lines were being paid at least $100 to hold spots in line.

Not so for 13-year-old Alex Timoski who arrived at the Stevenson Ranch store at 9 a.m. Thursday to claim the first spot in line. Joined by friends -- and replaced overnight by older place-holders -- Alex said the $500 was her birthday present. Her mom's getting one, too, but she paid a friend $200 to wait in line. Another friend had a large motor home parked nearby bringing the comforts of home for the long, long wait.

The attraction of the iPhone is the sleek design, the touch-screen and the features -- phone, e-mail, music and other media. The iPhone comes in two versions -- $499 for 4 gigabytes and $599 for an 8-gigabyte model. The minimum charge for the two-year service plan is $60 a month.

Fredye Gonzales' standard model LG flip phone has been broken about three months, but he's struggled with it waiting for the iPhone's release.

"I drove by last night and saw a few people in line, decided I didn't have to spend the night," Gonzales said. He arrived about 8 a.m. with a friend who was being paid $100 plus gas to drive from San Diego to hold a spot in line for his uncle, Gonzales' business partner.

Gus Ramos, 33, works for a painter who wanted the iPhone and offered Ramos overtime pay to wait in line.

"I'd rather be here than painting," he said, planning to spend his day studying for his driving test, his lawn chair in the shade of a mini-mall.

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Ali Benmohamed, 28, camped out all night at the AT&T store in Santa Clarita to be the third in line to purchase an iPhone that went on sale at 6 p.m. Friday. Benmohamed is shown making a call on his old cell phone while waiting.

(2 -- color) Dozens of people lined up at AT&T stores in the Santa Clarita Valley to buy the iPhone on Friday. Some were being paid hundreds of dollars just to hold spots in line for the real buyers.

David Crane/Staff Photographer