My Week With iPhone

I have a perfectly good cell phone, iPod and BlackBerry. So why, then, do I have a voice deep down inside saying, "Must get iPhone. Must get iPhone"?

(ABCNEWS)

I certainly don't need one. So why do I want one? Or, at least, think I want one?

I am not alone. Steve Levy, a tech writer for Newsweek, said, "There has been nothing like this in my memory. I've been covering technology for over 20 years and I can't recall anticipation for a product like this."

What is behind this anticipation? For "Nightline" this week I have been looking for answers. Starting Tuesday, I began visiting the line outside the Apple Store on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue.

The line was a "whopping" eight people long Tuesday. Jessica Rodriguez was one of them.

"I think this is going to change cell phones," she said. "I think this will go down in the history books."

Rodriguez is one of the legion of fans, hopelessly devoted to all things Apple.

"Apple has always, throughout its history, struck a chord among people who love technology and like it done really, really well," said Levy. "It's a religion to some people."

Fittingly, the iPhone has earned the nickname "Jesus Phone." If that's the case, then Steve Jobs might be Moses.

Since the 1970s he is the guy who has set the standard for tech cool. Maybe he is the person who planted the "must have iPhone" virus in my soul.

The famed "1984" ad for the Macintosh aired just once, but it was the definition of renegade chic. Jobs also founded Pixar, and of course brought us the iPod. So when Jobs says something like the iPhone is gonna be cool, people listen.

Rodriguez worships at the Jobs altar.

"Steve Jobs is an innovator. Before anyone thinks about it, he already has it done," she said.

To be fair, Jobs has had his fair share of flops. The 1983 Apple Lisa was such a giant flop, you can only find traces of it now on YouTube.