iPhone lands in palms everywhere

It fits in the palm of a hand and operates by the touch of a finger. It offers phone service, Internet, movies, music and even weather reports. It starts at a price of $499.

Those are the known facts about the iPhone, Apple’s highly anticipated new product that will go on sale nationwide at 6 p.m. today. Aside from that, everything is up to speculation.

Will the iPhone turn out to be a breakthrough personal accessory or a flash in the pan?

Will the device compete with other cell phone technology or wipe out the competition?

And when the lines form outside Newport-Mesa’s Apple and AT&T; stores, will they extend across the parking lot, or end somewhere in Los Angeles County?

“You don’t know until the day comes,” said Bill Rams, a spokesman for the Irvine Co., which oversees Fashion Island.

No one can say for sure how much of a bonanza today’s launch is going to be, but the local retailers are priming themselves for anything. Officials at South Coast Plaza, which houses one of the two Apple stores in Newport-Mesa, said they would open the mall’s doors at 5 a.m. to let customers queue inside. Fashion Island, the location of the other Apple store, planned to officially sanction a line at the same hour.

The area’s two AT&T; stores — one on 17th Street in Costa Mesa, the other on Bristol Street in Newport Beach — will also have the iPhone for sale beginning at 6 p.m. today. The Apple stores will be closed from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. before the launch, while AT&T; will shut its doors from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Laura Davis, the marketing director for Fashion Island, said in an e-mail that she predicted “sunny skies, ocean breezes and waves of shoppers at Apple surfing the web, downloading their favorite tunes and chatting with friends on their new iPhones.”

“It should be another fabulous day at Fashion Island,” she added. “We’re eagerly awaiting all the excitement.”