'Hundreds' line up as Australia kicks off worldwide iPhone 5 sales
The world's first iPhone 5 was sold just hours ago as the Sydney Apple Store kicked off worldwide sales on Friday, Australian local time.
According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, "hundreds of Australians" queued up to purchase some of the first iPhone 5s to go on sale worldwide. Because of the country's proximity to the international dateline, Australia was the first to sell the hotly anticipated device.
There are conflicting reports as to who managed to buy the first iPhone 5, with the WSJ saying it was a wireless phone reseller and CNET claiming it was two siblings.
The iPhone 5 launch continues as Apple Stores in Asia are now starting sales, with the U.S. slated to get the device at 8 a.m. on Friday. Among the first to get their hands on the new device will be line-waiters at the flagship Fifth Avenue Apple Store in New York.
The rollout will continue westward to include all nine countries participating in the iPhone 5's launch. Apple's aggressive It is unclear how sales will be handled in the countries starting sales next week as current allotments are sold out in the U.S., with Apple's online store now quoting delivery dates of three to four weeks. The Cupertino-based tech giant announced on Monday that it saw a record-setting 2 million iPhone 5 sales in the device's first 24 hours of availability after pre-orders
45 Comments
"But… Maps sucks. No one wants an iPhone with iOS 6."
Certainly more than hundreds!
I went to one of the smaller Telstra stores in the Sydney CBD, arrived just on 7am for 8am opening. I was 14th in line, and when they came and handed out the tickets for the stock allocation, I ended up with the last 2 of the 64Gb black iPhones. There were probably 30 people who got stock at this store. The last tickets that they had were for the white 16Gb model, so not sure if they just ended up receiving a lot of these, or whether these are the least popular.
The main Apple store and the main Telstra store had significantly greater lines.
Some people who had tickets ended up leaving empty handed, and from what I surmise, based on a variety of reasons including having insufficient ID (not having the 100 point ID check for Australia), or having outstanding accounts, etc preventing them signing up for new accounts, etc. Others just wasted time by not taking copies of the current bills to assist the process. Be organised!
But....... It doesn't have a pen.... Surely they are just saving spots for their parents. The next big thing was 6 months ago. P.S. +12 GMT needs to relocate to US CT. K thx.
"But… Maps sucks. No one wants an iPhone with iOS 6."
Well, they might get lost on the way home - but they'll be happy. :-)
Tickets, standing in line for more than a minute or so, carrying ID and documentation... To qualify? Being drilled by some drilled Apple storekeepers?
I cannot understand this, seriously...