“Apple Inc.’s new iPhone went on sale Friday to eager buyers worldwide, many of whom lined up for hours for the morning launch,” Peter Svensson reports for The Associated Press.
“At the flagship Apple store on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, a line of hundreds encircled the block ahead of the 8 a.m. opening. Many of them were already owners of the first iPhone, suggesting that Apple is preaching to the choir with the new model, which updates the one launched a year ago by speeding up Internet access [3G] and adding a [GPS] navigation chip,” Svensson reports.
“Outside an AT&T store in Atlanta, more than hundred people had lined up… By Friday morning, the line at the Softbank Corp. store in Tokyo had grown to more than 1,000 people, and the phone quickly sold out… The phone went on sale first in New Zealand, where hundreds of people lined up outside stores in New Zealand’s main cities to snap it up right at midnight… In Germany, T-Mobile stores reported brisk sales, particularly in Munich, Hamburg and Cologne, said spokeswoman Marion Kessing,” Svensson reports.
Full article here.
So will the media report on the long lines for the Samsung Instinct?
.
.
.
.
.
Oh Wait! There won’t be any!
When will the service providers realize what’s going on? People have never been this eager for any other phone before.
Except the iPhone 1.0
Sorry… I want to be the first to call “bullshit” on this story.
If this were real, and Apple was introducing a new iPhone, then MDN would have covered it before this story.
Something like this would be News.
I can’t update my iPhone to 2.0 because iTunes keeps saying that it can’t complete the request – try again later.
So according to this, on a very rough basis, the biggest line was in Japan – a country with supposedly far more advanced phones that wouldn’t be interested in the iPhone. Early days, but shows what analysts know.
If you do manage to get through, you will now get a picture saying “we are unable to activate your iPhone. Try again later”
Got my update 1st thing this morning & after 2 hours, still no luck
Preaching to the choir? The 1,000 people on line in Tokyo were not already owners of the first iPhone!
“So will the media report on the long lines for the Samsung Instinct?
.
Oh Wait! There won’t be any!”
Try telling that to Sprint Tech Support……
@Bluefin
Seems that I saw an article on this new iPhone, somewhere – can’t remember where.
Yeah, if it was important, you’d think Apple would publicize it better.
If the iPhone were any good, it would be available in, and have coverage in, in the Republic of Vermont.
Looks like another country that Steve has yet to make a deal with.
“”So will the media report on the long lines for the Samsung Instinct?”
Sure they will. That’s the refund line!
I asked my wife to go to the Rogers store this morning to get me one but all they had was the 8GB, guess I’ll have to wait.
Rogers has updated there web page with 2 more links for special limited time plans, and $15 Monthly up charge to Data+Phone users who want the extras (Visual Voice Mail & Call Display) The plans are starting to approach reasonable..
Also RuinediPhone.com is holding a virtual rally but it requires windows media 11:-( They seem to be as clueless as Rogers, POT – Kettle
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” /> also they got into bed with some politician (McSquinty or something) who stiffed them on a statement that was supposed to be on there WEB site a few days ago.
no lines here in germany (as always) though the stores i checked were mostly sold out in the morning (but they all had only 4-5 units). salespeople were really enthusastic about it. no one recommended an htc or nokia instead. one was even trying to talk me into mobilme (“it even works with windows!”)
The lines are getting shorter at Rogers in Canada, but only because:
1.After waiting in line for hours with pretty much no movement at all, customers are leaving with no phones and no answers
2. Rogers computers are overwhelmed
3. They are turning away existing customers – they are only set up to process new activations
4. They won’t give any clear information about pricing or phone availability – “Come back later” is the most common response.
It probably would have helped them if Rogers had had some kind of advance notice about the iPhone and put some pricing and procedures in place. You would have thought they would want to sell these things, but I guess corporate apathy and sloth trump that desire.
The Instink does NOT have Wifi…in case somebody other than Verizon even cares about an Instink.
Yeah! but who wants Wincrap on the second coming of the jesus phone?
I wonder how long it will take for someone to write an article about how the new screen has a yellow tint and looks worse than the old iphone.
@jtc:
Probably as long as it takes for more than 3 people to actually own one…
AT&T;Store in Salt Lake City Utah had a 200+ person line by 8AM.
They had 20 (give or take 5) iPhones for sale in the whole store – did they bother to tell the 200+ people who got up @ 5AM? Nope I had to go pester the “doorman” who finally, reluctantly said “we only have 8 phones left” – I was 40 people back in line – no wonder people have hacked the phone onto another network.
My time appears to be not worth anything to those scabs.
@macAngus
I did a simple google on “iphone 3G yellow screen” and got many articles of people complaining about the yellow tint. I have both version 1 and 2 of the iphone next to each other. Looks like they just need to send out an update to the firmware and be all set.
@mlsphoto
Thats called bad management. I remember when the sony PS3 came out. Lines for a week at best buy and they handed out tickets at one point and told the rest they are sold out. Same with the Wii. Some backed out though so maybe a couple others who didnt wait got one.
Not many lines at all here at stores in California. In fact no lines at lot’s of stores. But hey this site has becomes Steve Jobs biggest fart sniffer.
@jtc – my response was meant to be tongue-in-cheek
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> I have no reason to doubt that the screen is as you say. I’ll check for photos of the problem.
I was told ‘officially’ by a Rogers representative at their Yorkville store in Toronto that they are not set up to sell an iPhone to an existing customer, only a new one. They hope to have something in place to allow sales to new customers next week. Again, it’s unfortunate that they only found out that they were selling the iPhone at the last minute and were unable to prepare sufficiently.
“But hey this site has becomes Steve Jobs biggest fart sniffer.”
Then you must crave the smell. I love irony.
I got a white one here in Belgium, but activation is not possible, the carrier is also overloaded, most shops only got 2 phones when opening and then in the afternoon another 3
Haha
Not so in Spain, Have a look at the spanish website like
http://www.faq-mac.com/noticias/
In the biggest Salespoints from Telefonica maybe just 5-8 units
Madrid, Barcelona Valencia a few hundret per City out of this hotspots …nothing, nada……..maybe next week or so.
I was waiting in line this morning and the guy next to me had to called Sprint to get his account number from them so he can do the switch. It took him 20+ minutes with 5 different people before he got it. They were begging him to stay with them as asked if he’s seen the Instinct. He told them he was a lost cause and already standing in line to buy the iPhone.
It seems Samsung did not understand people’s real instincts.
16G White – yeah!…. iTunes – oh poo…