Quick, painless way to buy an iPhone 5: Don't plan

Getting an iPhone 5 can actually be pretty uneventful, even in Los Angeles.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor

Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.

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Brooke Crothers

Sept. 21, 2012 6:23 p.m. PT

The 32GB iPhone 5 I purchased today. It was a quick, easy get. Brooke Crothers

Here's the easy way to buy an iPhone: Don't have a plan.

I didn't intend to get an iPhone today.

But a phone call to a friend -- who I knew was at a local shopping center near a Verizon store -- changed my mind. The upshot: a short line out front.

"Wait, this is the first day of iPhone 5 sales and this is Los Angeles. And you're telling me there isn't a long line?" -- was, more or less, what I said.

By the time I got there the line was down to five or six people (just after 11:00). After 15 minutes I was in the store and they had what I wanted (see photo above).

It seemed too easy. Earlier in the morning, I had confirmed with a rep at the Apple Store in Century City (near Hollywood) that there was a long line (he said it was at least a two-hour wait).

So, I can conclude a couple of things. One, Apple pushed out plenty of inventory to low-profile outlets, like my local Verizon store. Two, high-profile Apple Stores -- like the one in Century City -- are the last place you want to go.

I'm already planning not to plan when the iPhone 6 arrives.