By Ewan MacLeod in G1 — Oct 30, 2008

So, I just bought a T-Mobile G1

So I’m standing filming, right?

I’m watching the organised melee and I’m seeing folk walking out the door with their new G1s — all setup and ready to rock (the device has a full charge when you take it out the box. Smart.

There was a small lull in store traffic just about 9am — I spotted a spare sales guy. Since I’d arrived, they were all working over time servicing customers as fast as possible. I’ve obviously been thinking about getting a G1 for a little while — but with my history with T-Mobile (goodness knows how many billing issues and the like) I thought it might be a bit of a challenge. And since I’d been invited down by T-Mobile to this launch, I thought it was a little bit rude to skip to the front of the queue ahead of proper paying customers. (I’d like to point out that I pay full price too.)

So with the lull in the queue, I checked with James from T-Mobile PR and jumped in front of a chap.

“I’d like a G1, please!” I said.

“Right and what tariff were you thinking of, sir?” the chap asked.

Er.

I dunno. Anyone.

“Er, the … the whatever. The 40 quid one,” I said.

“Right and…” the chap began, “Now what do you use your phone for, sir?”

This is good. He was checking that I was buying a product appropriate to my needs. I explained that I was a mobile nut. He nodded and skipped the standard sales approach. I do approve of this kind of assisted-selling. But me? No. Just the facts ma’am. Just the G1.

The chap who served me was called Masamba — and he was excellent. Having been up since 4am he was full of energy. He produced a white G1 for me in record time and bish bash bosh, we went through the contract process and I was done. In about 3 or 4 minutes he handed me my white ‘T-Mobile G1 is here’ branded bag and that was me. Done!

The other store chaps were busy serving customers as I snapped away:

I think there was a degree of hopefulness from the T-Mobile team. I reckon they got up this morning hoping that things would go well. Hoping that the G1 would get a good reception. But by 830am, there was a quiet sense of achievement and delight from them as they continued to sell G1 after G1. I stopped this chap and took a photo as he was retrieving yet another G1 from the back: