Unleashing the jaguar

Apple introduced Jaguar last night, with events at all the Apple Stores. If the Atlanta kick-off is any indicator, Apple has a hit on their hands.

By 9:45 pm, the line stretched more than a hundred feet, and by 10:20, when the doors opened, the line stretched to the front of the 2nd floor, then back around to parallel the Apple Store on the other side of the mall.

Apple was offering 10 percent off on Jaguar or on any other item in the store, including computers, and had a number of refurbished machines on hand, also discounted. Apple Store employees gave presentations on Jaguar throughout the evening, as security guards limited the number of people allowed in the store, allowing new people to enter only when earlier people left.

Who was first in line? These guys -- hi, Kevin and Howard -- since Howard remembered where the line had started when the store opened in May. Howard said the line was significantly longer than when the store opened, and it was longer when we left than when we arrived.

Early purchasers got a t-shirt, the mouse pad above, and the discount on their copy of Jaguar. Apple was also giving away an eMac at each store, and a 17-inch iMac across all Apple stores.

Is it possible that all the people in this line were already running OS X? I suppose so, but it seems more likely that people are believing the hype that this is the less-painful OS X, ready for everybody. I hope that's true, as Apple needs the 80 percent of unconvinced OS 9 users to come around.