“Apple Inc.’s stores attracted long lines of shoppers for the debut of the latest iPhones, indicating healthy demand for the bigger-screen smartphones,” Tim Higgins reports for Bloomberg.
“The iPhone 6 and the 6 Plus went on sale today in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, France, Germany and the U.K., before rolling out in Puerto Rico, Canada and the U.S. Shoppers in New York and San Francisco had already formed lines in the past two days to be among the first to buy the gadgets,” Higgins reports. “‘Phenomenal start to a historic day and an honor to be with our incredible team and first customers in Sydney,’ Angela Ahrendts, Apple senior vice president of retail and online stores, said in a post on Twitter.”
“The Apple store in Tokyo’s Shibuya area had about 600 people lined up an hour before opening, while the one in nearby Omotesando had about 1,000. They included a woman near the front of the line wearing a Steve Jobs mask, carrying a red apple,” Higgins reports. “The buzz over the smartphones has been high since Cook unveiled them at a Sept. 9 event. When the iPhones became available for pre-order a week ago, they racked up a record 4 million reservations in the first 24 hours and surpassed earlier releases.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We have people in an iPhone 6/Plus line at a smaller Apple Retail Store that makes the lines for iPhone 5 and 5s look like a Samsung release. Well over 300 people in the non-pick up line at 5am at a smaller Apple mall store! If the supply is there, iPhone 6 and 6 Plus first weekend sales are going to be record-breaking.
Over here in Santa Cruz CA about 35 miles from Cupertino there is nobody at the only Best Buy crept me. Hope they’re not Plusless 😜 in just a few more hours.
so samsung you want to make more fun of Apple’s lines and Apple fans?
seems like the more ads you run the longer the lines get…
🙂
Hey,
Samdung is running scared!
Leave them alone.
They will burn themselves out !!
The cool thing is Samsung’s getting laughed at instead for their Barney Fife-ish clumsy nervousness than anyone taking the ad jabs seriously. So much for what ended up boomerang advertising that hurts marginalized Salessuck, aka Shamdung, more than their prime competition. And helped to advertise the iPhone instead! BWAHAHAHA!!
It’s a new day.
Good luck to all who land new iPhone 6’s today!
The Samsung store on George Street Sydney had a line stemming from it, too. This line was overflow from customers hoping to buy an iPhone 6.
I don’t get joining a line for something you know you have a very good chance of not getting. My nominal 2 year upgrade point is early december, but I will probably do it in november or something, by then supply should have increased, demand will have levelled off and it will likely be pretty easy to get one. Such a culture of instant gratification.
When I was younger, this is something that I would have done. But not now. I get it, just can’t do it. 😉 I do understand the notion of “why wait in line for something that won’t happen!”
My wife’s 64 Gold and my 64 Space will be delivered this afternoon! 😀
In the past I’ve waited in line and it was actually fun with the excitement of getting the new product. However, not so much now. I will be going by the Apple store this weekend to hold the new phone in my hands to see which one I want to order.
‘Such a culture of instant gratification’
What amazes me is that ppl are either so oblivious to this fact, in denial or unhappy about it that they have to vote you down for saying it. Or maybe they just the best tool for their job as soon as possible…
The point of line waiting, is not just about the iPhone. It’s about the whole experience. Why do you think they go to the trouble of bringing tents and survival kits? Look at the German line, which photos and video were posted last night, they even have porta-potties.
It’s a quest!
It’s almost Apple’s version of the iPhone festival, where in NYC, it started two weeks ago. Manufactures come and give out stuff, to capitalize marketing potential.
For the rest of us, who want a launch day phone and have the means, there’s another form of line waiting. It’s the Mac Rumors forums, and staying up for the Pre-Order (Zero Hour), to get your order in. It has it’s creepiness too, but far more sustainable, because you don’t have to give up a part of your life to do it.
After everyone get’s there phone, everything dies down, and people move on. Rinse Wash Repeat, the next year.
Is it childish? Yes, Maybe 5% of all sales of iPhones happen this way. Is it fun? Yes, and exciting, and disappointing. You know, these people are living and feeling. Ahh I could go on… I think a paper could be written about it. Yes it’s cultish and creepy. But it’s Apple, and no other company has this from their customers.
Now after 5am Pacific there are 5 of us at the Soquel CA Best Buy hoping to score 6 Plus iPhones.
I’m number 8 in line at a ATT store in suburban Minneapolis. There are about 40 people waiting. A store employee came out and said they only have six of the 6+. There is a Best Buy Mobile store in this mall and one salesman was already poaching people from the rear of the line. It’s a social function being in line, a very diverse demographic. My sister in law is joining our plan and her 6+ 16g gets delivered today. My daughters 6-64 gold not until 9-23 to 10-7.
Home by 9:10 am with my iPhone 6 space gray 128g. The employees at the AT&T store were wonderful. However, restoring over store wifi was estimated at 3 hours. Don’t have them start a wifi backup, just use your Mac computer as it’s much quicker. It’s a beautiful phone.
iPhone 6 sales line at the NYC 14th St store. Line stretches from 9th Ave & 14th St. to 10th Ave. and 15th St. –
http://t.co/vBHmXoBv1Y
Who in there right mind would click on you BS?
Whoa… you need to install Hyperlapse, man!
Video of iPhone 6 sales line at the NYC 14th St store. Line stretches from 9th Ave & 14th St. to 10th Ave. and 15th St. –
http://t.co/vBHmXoBv1Y
That video is horrible.
Who shoots video in portrait orientation?
lol, it’s turning into a meme. It starts out with a portrait video, then a ton of complaints and demos of how to turn your phone to landscape.
I asked one of the staff if there were lines like this for other phones and he said never. He said only the Apple launches are like this.
I should clarify I was talking to someone that works in to Telstra store