iPhone T-minus 7 hours

So here we are, less than 8 hours away from the iPhone madness that will descend upon AT&T and Apple Retail stores across the country. No, I’m not standing in line posting this blog entry, nor do I anticipate going to a store until at least 5:00 pm. Members of SNUG and SmugMug, along with blogger Robert Scoble, are camping out at the Palo Alto store. Don and the gang from SmugMug apparently bought pizzas for everyone last night. Diggnation and other media companies are also hanging out at the Palo Alto store, making the Valley Fair Apple Store not the place to be tonight — unless perhaps you actually want to get one!

I read a report saying they will have 1 million iPhones for the launch today. That’s a lot per store, so I don’t anticipate there being any shortages, especially with another 2 million in the wings.

Those free iPhones that Jobs gave to Apple employees yesterday? Very generous and smart of him. A company has to eat its own dog food. Having all employees as iPhone — and AT&T — customers is a perfect example of this.

So, the big question is will I get one today? I have been waiting for this day for a long time, but now that it’s finally here, I ask myself if the urge is still strong? The price of the 8GB iPhone isn’t an issue for me — I paid far more for my Newton MessagePads in the past (and before taking inflation in account). The way that I rationalize not getting it is by telling myself, “It’s not like you don’t have something that can do roughly the same thing as today.” My current phone works now, and it’ll work tomorrow. Then again, if I get close to a real iPhone, the lure of precious might become too much for my rational mind to handle!

Even if I do get one, it’s not like I’ll have a lot of time to use it. I’m off tomorrow morning at 6:00 am for the Giro di Peninsula, a 100-mile ride through the Bay Area. The Death Ride beckons, and it’s its call that I’m answering!