UPDATE 3-Apple iPhone buyers gush as iWait ends
(Adds quotes from buyers coast-to-coast)
June 29 (Reuters) - Apple Inc. began selling the iPhone, which combines a wireless phone with music- and video-playing capabilities and Web browsing, on Friday. It is the most highly anticipated U.S. product introduction so far this year.
Here are quotes from some of the first buyers and others waiting in line in front of Apple stores from as early as Tuesday to buy the iPhone, which went on sale at 6 p.m. in each U.S. time zone.
NEW YORK
Grant Johnson, 41, an accountant from Brooklyn, managed to buy three after the girl in front of him in line bought him an extra one, as she only wanted one.
"I'm keeping one and selling the other two. I'm trying to get $1,200 for them," said Johnson, who had queued up for 25 hours. "I haven't slept in a day and a half. I need a nice hot shower and a bath."
Courtney Crangi, 34, runs a jewelry company in Manhattan which she has hooked up with Apple products.
"I'm totally embarrassed I've been waiting for this device, but I've wanted it from the day they announced it -- before that," Crangi said.
"Now I have to hide it," she said, worrying about getting mugged.
CHICAGO:
Albert Livingstone got a room at the Allerton Hotel across the street to help ease the waiting process.
"If you're camping out, that's the way to camp out," Livingstone said. "It's the newest toy. I'm 62 -- I don't have much time left to buy toys."
Nicholas Haubrich, 25, secured the number-one place in line at the Chicago store on Thursday afternoon.
"I've had couples come by and offer to buy me breakfast. The city has been great," Haubrich said.
SAN FRANCISCO:
Dale Larson, 38, works for DonorDigital, a consultant to non-profit organizations:
"For me, it's work-related: It's staying on top of the latest technology. I'm working from line."
Todd Laguardia, 19, from San Diego, is a student at Stanford University:
"You don't have to hold all these different things in your pocket. IPhone captures everything in one device."
LOS ANGELES:
Samantha Hirsch, an 18-year-old student, beamed after buying her iPhone at posh Hollywood shopping center The Grove:
"I expected it to be a very lightweight phone. It is everything I wanted and more. They have created the picture-perfect phone," Hirsch said.
Phil Jaffe, 38 and one of the oldest people on line at the Hollywood store, got in line after getting off work at 4 a.m.
"I am kind of an Apple freak," Jaffe said. "I have been waiting for this phone for probably two years before Apple even admitted they were making it."
(Reporting by Robert MacMillan, Sinead Carew and Franklin Paul in New York; Regan Doherty in Chicago; Eric Auchard in San Francisco; Dana Ford in Hollywood)
