iPhone 5 is finally reaching the Apple stores today, and those who didn’t want to wait a week or more to get theirs by preordering it online will have the opportunity to get it directly in store. However, due to the usual incredibly high demand (which if anything has only become bigger over the years), it is very likely that unless you are one of the first few individuals to enter the Apple store this morning you will be out of luck for at least another few weeks until the supply stabilizes.

I have never really worried much about these considerations. I have always either bought my i-devices immediately online as soon as they become available, or had waited several months for them to become well stocked online and the Apple retail stores.

In Indiana there is only one Apple store in the entire state, but while in California where I am staying now there is one on each corner. (Well, not quite, but you get the idea.) One of the more famed ones is the on in downtown Palo Alto. In the years past even Steve Jobs would supposedly stop by there on occasion to chat with shoppers (it is not far away from his home), and other tech celebrities were known to make an occasional appearance. That store, like all the other Apple stores around the world, is the site of the annual ritual of waiting overnight in the line to get the latest iPhone. Those lines always struck me as a bit crazy, but yesterday I decided to stop by to check it out. And yes, the line was populated by geeks and overzealous Apple fanbois (and an occasional fangrl), but the atmosphere was far from being boring and nerdy. It had the feel of an understated block party, with people sharing good New Zealand wine and chatting about all sorts of topics, and if I had known this would be the case I would have planed a longer sojourn. I also got to meet Robert Scoble, perhaps the best known tech blogger. Even though I am not a hard-core geek, I found this event to be remarkably fun. I’ve posted a few pics bellow so you can perhaps get the idea.