Mike Wuerthele
Lines at the U.S. Apple Stores mirror those Thursday's queues at international venues, and AppleInsider has learned that stores typically have well over 300 units on hand to sell, and in some cases, nearly a thousand.
Twitter user and blogger "Dominicanabroad" posted a video of the second line at the World Trade Center Apple Store. A first line was inside the store at 7 a.m.
The second set of line at the WTC Apple Store for the iPhone X. The next line is inside. #iPhoneX #iphone #applestore pic.twitter.com/ut4Q2DlAYc
— G. Isabelle (@dominicanabroad) November 3, 2017
New York City's CoSo store had a profound line of people at 8:10 a.m., according to Casey Neistat. He also reports that most people he spoke with were buying two.
Apple store SoHo 8:10am. doors are open, hard to imagine they have enough for everyone - most people I talked to are each getting 2 devices pic.twitter.com/xbt7o16qSE
— Casey Neistat (@CaseyNeistat) November 3, 2017
Sara DiNatale, a reporter for the Tampa Bay Times, took photos outside her local Apple Store, with lines reaching well outside the store.
The Apple Store in Tampa has a few lines organized for today's iPhone X release. Line starts outside. @TB_Times pic.twitter.com/BdhmqBqBsZ
— Sara DiNatale (@sara_dinatale) November 3, 2017
The Willowbrook Mall in Wayne, N.J., also has a long queue, with the line extending past the Best Buy Mobile store down the hall from the venue.
Apple iPhone X launch line! Willowbrook Mall! Let's get you to switch and save w/ Sprint! @htownbombs @erinkorski pic.twitter.com/AZXGVIDdko
— David Reesman (@Boost_Reesman) November 3, 2017
Twitter user Raymond Wong posted video of a massive line outside an undisclosed location, with the first purchasers being processed inside a very busy store.
The line for iPhone X never ends!! pic.twitter.com/uSyqHh1HXB
— Raymond Wong (@raywongy) November 3, 2017
Apple also offered its own collection of images from the first iPhone X sales around the world, including London, Dubai, Singapore, Tokyo, and Sydney.
AppleInsider has queried local locations, and sources not authorized to speak for the company say that there are "hundreds" of iPhone X ready for purchase. All the stores we asked said that they had "enough" phones to slake the appetites for the device for the people currently in line — but that it wouldn't last through the day, or more likely, to 10 a.m.
All of our sources at Apple Retail said that they have "far more" of the iPhone X for today's release then they had of the iPhone 7 Plus went it on sale in 2016.
Similar queries to corporate-owned carrier retail stores showed just a handful in total of the iPhone X in stock for sale on Friday morning.
Charles Martin
Christine McKee
Oliver Haslam
40 Comments
So much for the doom & gloom. All the armchair logistics experts and CEOs were wrong.
They were wrong about the success of iPhone 8 and they were wrong about iPhone X supply.
Wow, that's crazy! Samsung would kill to have this kind of attention.
Which phone company hired posers to fake long lines few years back? Was it LG or Samsung?
So I would love to see some investigative journalism here to find out what’s really going on. How could analysts and pundits be so wrong? Sure, they’re usually wrong about Apple but this is stupendously embarrassing for every prognosticator out there. Even 9to5Mac bought into the story. Recent articles all but confirmed that there were massive production issues with the iPhone X. Were the analysts played like a fiddle by Apple? Did the tech media actively try to scuttle the launch? Is Apple lying about demand? Apple’s guidance for Q1 is off the charts. If they’re lying about demand then they’re lying about their guidance and that would mean big trouble.
My personal opinion is that the tech media willingly bought into the ‘failure’ meme and were played like a fiddle by Apple.
What’s your opinion?