At 5 p.m. on Friday, June 29, a crowd of more than 200 people lined up outside of the Apple Store in The Mall at Millenia in Orlando to be the first in this town to own Apple’s long awaited, highly anticipated, and probably over hype-penated iPhone.

The line at 5 p.m. The store is ahead and to the right, not visible.

The line started forming at 7 a.m. Well, actually, the line started the night before when Vicki Carpopca and her friends came to the mall expressly for the iPhone, but was told she had to wait elsewhere until the mall reopened on Friday. "We stayed until the mall closed," she said, "and we were here first thing in the morning."

Vicki is first in line.

In the line, people had made themselves comfortable. Cushions and folding chairs were everywhere. Laptops, both Apple and PCs, were scattered throughout the line as people took advantage of the Apple Store’s free WiFi to stay in touch. Here and there card games and Nintendo DS systems kept waiters occupied.

Charles Starrett arrived at 11 a.m. with iPhone on his mind. "It’s the convergence of features, it’s what everyone’s been waiting for. It’s a device that does everything it’s suppose to and does it well."

Charles: "It’s what everyone’s been waiting for."

By 5:30 p.m. the line’s head count was closing in on 300. Apple Store employees were handing out bottled water, Starbucks coffee, and Chick-Fil-A sandwiches to the patient, but excited iPhone customers. Mall security was working overtime trying to keep the curious onlookers moving so as not to block the wide hallway made narrow by a line that doubled back on itself before stretching towards the mall entrance.

Brad McGonigle and Alexis Norton joined the line at noon. "Nothing else syncs up with stuff I need. For instance, I can’t get pictures off other phones easily," Mr. McGonigle said about the iPhone. "It brings together a phone, the Internet, a PDA, and an iPod. Why wouldn’t you want that?"

Brad and Alexis: "Why wouldn’t you want that?"

"I’ve been a Mac fan for a while now, but I always knew that if Apple made a cellphone it would be amazing," Ms. Norton added. "Besides my computer and my iPod, a cellphone is the one device I use everyday, but there’s always more that I wish they could do. The iPhone does it."

By 5:45 p.m. those sitting on the floor in line had gotten up. Lawn chairs and pillows were taken back to cars, and you could almost see the electricity, like some Tesla project, sizzling through the air.

One mall employee told us that the Apple crowd was nothing like the mob that descended on the Sony Store when the Playstation 3 was released. "The police had to cuff people to get some order. These Apple people are a classier group."

As the 6 o’clock hour neared you could feel the level of excitement increase. People in line shuffled forward, still orderly, but rippling with anticipation.

What are they doing in there?

At 2 p.m. Apple had closed all of its stores to prepare for the iPhone release. At the Millenia Mall store, black paper was taped to the entire front window and door. No one could see what was going on inside. At five minutes before the doors were to open, the black paper was torn down revealing two large monitors cleverly disguised as giant iPhones and displaying canned videos of the device in action.

Inside the store tens of black-shirted Apple salespeople waved and clapped. Outside the store the crowd erupted in applause and cheers. Onlookers jostled to see what the commotion was all about. Mall security and local police did their best to keep things orderly and mall traffic moving around the Apple store and the line outside.

The black paper comes down, cheers go up.

A minute before 6 p.m. the doors of the Apple store opened and the cheers exploded from the crowd and from Apple employees as the first customers in line were allowed to enter. High-fives were slapped and backs patted amid more cheers as salespersons took customers to view the iPhone and personally demonstrate to each.

High-Five!

More cheers erupted when the first customer emerged from the store with iPhones in hand. These guys literally raced down the hall towards the store entrance, presumably to hurry home and activate their phones. As they went, they waved their purchases, further whipping up an already whipped crowd.

From one line to another

Inside the store another line formed as customers, anxious to check out and get to iPhoning, waited to pay. One on one demos were happening in almost every corner of the store. Beautiful iMacs, iPods on speaker docks, and beefy Mac Pros were pretty much neglected: it was all about the iPhone and the accessories that were available.

Todd Mondale had made his iPhone purchases, but was still playing with a store demo unit, marveling at the features. "I wanted the integration of email, Internet, iPod, and a good phone in one package."

Todd has his.

Mr. Mondale had bought two iPhones. "I bought the second phone to resell." When ask what he thought of the device now that he’s had a chance to play with it, Mr. Mondale said, "It’s awesome! It’s perfect! I really wasn’t expecting it to be this high quality. I’m surprised and extremely happy so far."

By 6:30 the line had shrunk to half its original size. Happy faces with little black bags containing iPhones exited the store. More happy faces entered the store intent on buying.

From the looks of the activity at this one small Apple store in a relatively small Apple market, the iPhone is an initial hit.