And this is my Apple Fanclub Membership Card…

I bought an 8 GB iPhone last night.

I began the evening at an AT&T wireless store, waiting maddeningly in line for nearly half an hour just to speak to an employee. Once I finally reached the hallowed counter, I cut to the chase, inquiring as to the cheapest 3G phone I could obtain with a new 2-year contract. I may have hinted a bit that I was intending to turn around and immediately buy an iPhone, that I wanted an unlocked 3G to serve as a mobile laptop modem. The dude was less than helpful and the $70 price hardly warmed my cockles. I left without an auxiliary phone and headed to the Apple store.

My Apple purchasing experience was easy almost to the point of being comical. I walked in and was greeted and told the friendly young sir that I wanted an 8 GB iPhone to buy, no, I didn't need to look at one first. No, I do not need any accessories. Please step forward to the checkout counter. I gave friendly young sir #2 my credit card and ID, he swiped once, I signed once, he e-mailed me my receipt, and I walked out of the store with my new phone/toy/joy/indulgence.

Once home, online registration and activation took not 15 minutes. I have been nothing but satisfied so far. The packaging, the device, the operating system, the applications, and the customer experience are all great---everything has been carefully designed by Apple. I know you've read it all before, all over the web in the last few weeks, but the iPhone is what technology should be. I'll write further notes after having used it a few days.

Do you need my new phone number? Do you have my old one? Let's say my old number is X-Y-Z. My new number is (X - 703)-(Y - 343)-(Z - 2663). It's also on Facebook. My old Verizon phone and number will be working for a bit and I will likely put the new number in my old voicemail.