Wozniak, Apple co-founder, waits in line

LOS GATOS, Calif., Oct. 14 (UPI) -- The co-founder of Apple Inc., Steve Wozniak, knew where he wanted to be this week, waiting in line at an Apple store in California to buy an iPhone 4S.

Like thousands of Apple fans across the country and around the world, Wozniak has chosen for several product launches to sit on the sidewalk waiting for an Apple store to open up and usher in a new device.

It would be like Ringo Star waiting overnight on the sidewalk to buy tickets to see Paul McCartney in concert. Wozniak, who designed the first Macintosh computers with high-school friend and fellow-legend Steve Jobs, could have Apple deliver any product he likes to his door.

But Wozniak told CNN he wanted to get the next generation iPhone "along with the millions of other fans."

"I just want to be able to talk to my phone," he said.

He also said he misses his friend and former partner Jobs, who died last week of complications from pancreatic cancer.

Wozniak told CNN he might pose for "a thousand pictures" while waiting outside the Los Gatos Apple Store. In the meantime, he would get some work done on the white iPad he brought with him.

Part of his time was spent talking to others waiting in line, signing Apple devices and explaining that he and Jobs agreed that one-time tributes, such as flowers, were not necessary.

But try to stop them. The Apple store where Wozniak waited in a portable armchair was bedecked in tributes to Jobs, as are many others. And fans dropped by to pay their respects.

In the meantime, Wozniak informed a police officer that, yes, he planned to wait outside the store overnight to buy an iPhone for his wife.

And why would he leave? After all, he was first in line.