By Eric Frazier
efrazier@charlotteobserver.com

By 7 a.m. this morning, at least 1,000 people were standing in line at SouthPark Mall this morning to buy the latest iPhone.

"Everybody ready?" an Apple store employee asked as she opened the doors at 7:04. The crowd – which included people who’d started trying to get in line as early as Wednesday afternoon -- whooped its approval.

First in the door was Stephen Martin, 42, and his daughter Gabi, 12, and son Sam, 12. They’d arrived at the mall at about 5 a.m., just as the mall security guards began letting people line up in the parking garage outside. The guards been politely running people off for hours, telling them the line couldn’t start forming until about 5.

"We got really lucky," Martin said. "There were people trolling the parking lot. There were people hiding in the stairwells. I think there might have been people hiding in the mall."

Melissa Ishage, 27, got to the mall about 4:30 and hid in her car after security told her to leave and come back at around 5.

"I have to have it," she said of the new iPhone. "Look at my phone."

She held up her phone, which had been dropped multiple times and had a badly cracked screen.

"I guess I’ll buy a better case this time."

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