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Presales, weather prevented larger crowd at Verizon Wireless.
Michele Stiner of Larksville, right, waited in line since midnight to purchase the new iPhone4 at Verizon Wireless in Wilkes-Barre Township.
Retail sales representatives at this Verizon Wireless store in Wilkes-Barre Township assist customers purchasing the iPhone4 shortly after opening at 7 a.m. Thursday.
BILL TARUTIS photos/FOR THE TIMES LEADER
WILKES-BARRE TWP. – Some were getting cold, some were getting to school late and some were getting birthday gifts. All were getting the long-anticipated Verizon version of Apple’s must-have iPhone4.
The 31 people standing in line on a frigid pre-dawn Thursday morning at the Verizon Wireless store on Schechter Drive arrived at varying times between 4 a.m. and the store’s 7 a.m. opening. They all lined up behind Michele Stiner, of Larksville, who arrived at midnight anticipating a Black Friday-like crowd.
Some blamed the cold, others the online presales. Store officials said the crowd was what they anticipated; those in line, including Ted Treslar, said the employees were putting on a brave face. He said he was expecting to see a line around the building. But he wasn’t complaining that his arrival at 4:30, shortly after his shift as a blackjack dealer and croupier at the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs Casino, left him fifth in line.
The Shavertown resident bantered with line mates, clutched the hand warmers company officials handed out and told those who asked that the iPhone he would eventually walk out of the store with at 7:45 a.m. was a birthday gift for his 12-year-old daughter Jolee.
Her birthday was Feb. 3 and in a fortuitous piece of coincidence, her contract on her Verizon Blackberry Curve was expiring Thursday. She wanted an upgrade, he wanted to get her a birthday present. The stars aligned.
Not all school-aged folks had someone wait in the cold to get them the gadget.
Kelsey Decker, 14, of Forty Fort, planned on arriving at Wyoming Valley West Middle School a few minutes late. But she’d do so with her new iPhone and a new red knit cap emblazoned with Verizon that were passed out along with the hand warmers. She and her mother, Lisa, braved the cold for more than an hour to get the smart phone and she said it was worth it.
Four years after AT&T became the first carrier to offer service on the Apple-created device, the exclusivity ran out and Verizon hopped on board. Verizon customers watched their friends using the gadget wondering if they should switch carriers or hope that Verizon joined the iPhone parade.
John Waleski, of Avoca, was among them.
“All my friends have the AT&T version. I’m always on theirs playing with aps,” he said. An owner of a Blackberry Storm on the Verizon network, Waleski said he likes the network and now will like his smart phone even more.
Not everyone is abandoning AT&T for the new kid in town.
Aaron York, of Larksville, waited in line keeping Stiner company. He said he is standing by AT&T, for now.
So too is Treslar, who has no problems with his iPhone. But he said his contract is up in six months and he will consider his options.
First reported online at
7:31 a.m.
on timesleader.com