“Gadget lovers worldwide are already camped out ahead of Friday’s global rollout of the new model of Apple Inc.’s iPhone, which is also the first iPhone to go on sale in many countries,” Yuri Kageyama reports for The Associated Press.
“Carrier Softbank Corp., which beat market leader NTT DoCoMo for the right to sell the iPhone in Japan, is planning a countdown ceremony at its flagship downtown store. By late Thursday, a line of nearly 800 iPhone fans snaked around the block, with some sleeping on the streets to ensure they would be among the first customers,” Kageyama reports.
“The iPhone goes on sale there five hours earlier than other nationwide outlets, helping to kick off a global rollout in 22 nations,” Kageyama reports.
“Because of time differences, the new iPhones went on sale first in New Zealand, then Australia. Japan and Hong Kong are to follow. In the United States, phones will be available at 8 a.m. in each time zone,” Kageyama reports.
“The iPhone has sparked similar enthusiasm in Australia,” Kageyama reports. “In downtown Sydney, a few hundred people who had camped outside an Optus telecom store on a cold and windy winter night were treated to free pizza, coffee, massages and entertainment as the clocked inched toward midnight.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “mark” for the heads up.]
The bloodbath is upon us.
Let Slaughter 2.0 begin.
Camping out in a few of these rollout countries could be considered civil unrest. “Give me iPhone or give me . . . um, a break?”
“DoCoMo for the right to sell the iPhone in Japan, is planning a countdown ceremony at its flagship downtown store. By late Thursday, a line of nearly 800 iPhone fans snaked around the block”
But hey there is no interest in the iPhone in Japan
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I wonder if they have 800 iPhones, if not should they not be telling those waiting that they will be out of luck?
Bloodbath. The free apps I downloaded to fiddle with are great. Can’t wait until I have time to really explore what’s there.
Amid the fudsters and naysayers, I’m pretty sure no one has, is, or will do this for RIM, HTC, et al. No one seems to talk about that.
Instead it’s “Dead spots”, “short gps antenna”, “no turn by turn” “big stuff”.
The state of delusion is amazing. But, look at the pc Market:
90% Delusion
10% OS X
its a phone.
yes i love the iPhone, but camping outside is not safe. nor healthy. No one should be allowed to camp outside. Until someone is robbed or killed or mugged, then and only then will be rethink Camping outside!
Sad!
FOOLS! !
Gary Krakwhore has already decreed that the “3G iPhone” stinks because somebody somewhere got a call dropped.
Game over, man.
Uh, okay. Anything you say, Marco…
“In downtown Sydney, a few hundred people who had camped outside an Optus telecom store on a cold and windy winter night were treated to free pizza, coffee, massages and entertainment as the clocked inched toward midnight.”
That’s nothing. In Japan, girls had signs that read, “Me Love You Long Line!”
There’s nothing sweeter than a happy ending.
@ @marco
Lighten up man, Marco has a point. You could be camped out there in line and at any point in time their could be a drive-by-Zuneing. I would be scared to death! You never know if someone is going to drive by and indiscriminately throw a Zune into the crowd.
Platform related crime happens all the time out on the streets.
When your out on the streets, man . . . . . . nerds just don’t care. They’ll Zune you and not even flinch! They will laugh – they are that far out of reality.
I have already bought $30 worth of apps on my iPhone 2.5G and am so excited I could pee my pants!
@Bunsen:
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Your percentages are not right.
You forgot to include .1% for linux and BSD
We had an employee who called in sick, claimed to have the flu.
Her manager told me about it, I said, ” really, the flu. Maybe I should take some chicken soup to the theater she is camped out in front of for the opening of the Star Wars movie.”
I then explained she had been interviewed by the Local TV News-seemed pretty flu free to me.
Haven’t bought ANY apps yet for my jPhone 2G
But
Am so excited I DID pee in my pants
BC
For those interested, photos and video from the Auckland line yesterday where the worlds first iPhone 3G was sold (we spoke to the first few people in line, including Luke Soules from iFixit):
http://www.maccrazy.net/2008/07/10/video-iphone-3g-line-in-auckland/
I got so excited I peed in other people’s pants. It wasn’t easy.
Funny how Apple headquarters will be one of the last (except Alaska and Hawaii) to get the iPhone. Oh well, going to bet now in Calif.
Camping outside is not safe, sure a bear can come and rob you of food (if you are dumb enough to leave food outside near your camp spot) and yes bears have been known to kill people or maul them.
But then again what is safe?
Life is a risky experience, but that is not to say it cannot be enjoyed.