An Australian woman is using an iPad-equipped telepresence robot in Sydney to remotely secure her place in line for Apple's Friday launch of the highly anticipated iPhone 6s.
The robot is currently fourth in line at company's flagship Australian store in Sydney, Mashable said. The woman controlling it, Lucy Kelly, has also set up a tent with a charger to keep the robot functioning during the overnight wait. In the meantime she has been interacting with other people in line, some of whom have posed for photos with the robot.
Her employer — a media agency — owns six of the robots, and offered her one of them so that she could camp out for the phone and still do her job. The plan is to purchase an iPhone without human interaction, though Kelly did not tell Mashable how that would work, or how and when she would pick up the device.
The first person in line has been camped outside the store for 17 days. The wait is almost over though, as it's already early Friday morning in Sydney, and sales will begin at 8 a.m. local time.
Australia is one of 12 regions that will carry the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus at launch. The others include Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Singapore, the U.K., and the U.S.
Because online orders of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus have already been pushed into October, the only way of securing one this weekend will likely involve visiting an Apple, carrier, or third-party retail store. Stock could quickly evaporate by the end of Friday, if not mid-day.
18 Comments
Or you could, you know, pre-order. None of this is about getting a phone though.
Talk about phoning it in... someday, this is how we will do everything.
If this is fair game, why not just leave a rock with your name on it? Or better yet, ask the person in front of you to save your place and then come back when the doors are about to open.
Or you could, you know, pre-order.
Or you could, you know, read the story (particularly the last paragraph).
-kpluck
Nothing will prevent that robot from being turned off.