Wordpress have been putting out teasers for their open source iPhone client for a couple of weeks now and I’ve been keeping one eye eagerly on the app store ever since.

Finally it’s here and I’m typing this post on my phone and do you know what it’s pretty damn good. They don’t seem to have compromised on functionality to cram things in to the interface and hooking it up to a self hosted blog is a snap.

They’ve even done a very nice job of integrating safari into the client to show a live preview of your post. Only drawbacks I’ve spotted so far is that any photos added to a post just get dropped to the bottom rather than being able to insert them as you go and you don’t seem to be able to add links to posts which is a pretty major omission.

On that note, below is a little sign I spotted at kings cross that made me smile.

7.02am - Bradford, West Yorkshire, one hour until the O2 store opens and as I pull into the car park I notice quite a few cars. It’ll be the staff I tell myself as I round the corner and find a queue of 21 people (some with folding chairs) waiting for the store to open.

 So, at least 21 people are sadder than me, which is a start!

 Over the next hour, I got chatting with some of the other people in the queue, including a couple of magicians who were practicing their sleight of hand coin tricks. The O2 staff were really good, keeping everyone jollied along, handing out free water and keeping everyone up to date with progress. A nice camaraderie began to develop.

The store only had around 10 16GB iPhones which disappeared almost instantly so a few people peeled off as they didn’t want to settle for an 8GB. By about 8.20 I was in the store and sat down while the very friendly assistant took my details, filled out paperwork and took copies of my ID….at which point the O2 credit checking system fell on it’s arse.

 A little disappointing given their experience earlier in the week with the online store, given the decision to open almost all the stores at 8.02am, it was hardly going to be a surprise that the online credit checking service was going to get a sudden hammering.

So, i’ve “bought” an iPhone, pending the credit check. But I can’t actually get my mitts on it until they’ve run the check and given me a call. Which realistically means this evening. I can’t really fault the on the ground staff. Just a shame the infrastructure didn’t live up to it!