Business & Tech

Three Villagers Line Up For New iPhone

Lucky Long Islanders with reservations pack Smith Haven Mall.

Stony Brook resident Edwin Tjoe teaches a class on technology and society at Stony Brook University, which is why he called it ironic that he has never owned an Internet-capable phone.

Until today, that is.

Tjoe was one of thousands of Long Islanders who lined up early Thursday morning at malls across the Island, eagerly awaiting Apple's new iPhone 4 – some with a pre-reserved phone waiting for them at the store, some without.

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"I told my students I couldn't teach today so I could come pick up my phone," said Tjoe, 28. "I don't think they cared."

He is looking forward to being able to keep up with friends' text messages and to work from any location.

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"I'll be able to use it in my teaching," Tjoe said.

The new glass-and-stainless-steel iPhone features a video chat function, FaceTime, and the highest screen resolution ever incorporated into a cell phone. There's also a 5-megapixel camera with flash. It is also reported to have longer battery life.

Apple said in a statement it had received more than 600,000 pre-orders for the new iPhone just one day after it began taking reservations.

One Setauket Best Buy employee, who declined to give his name, waited on line alongside everyone else, saying the store wouldn't permit employees to buy the new iPhone.

Setauket resident Derek Woltin, 21, reserved his iPhone 4 because he likes to have all the newest technology.

"It's cool looking," he said.

Louise DeCarlo, 49, of Stony Brook, says there is a unique social status attached to owning an iPhone – just one of the many things she loves about her current iPhone. She loves to show it off.

"Which is exactly what I'll be doing as soon as I get the new one," she said.


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