Roger Fingas
The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus went on sale in New Zealand and Australia early Friday morning, simultaneously marking the products' official launch worldwide.
Although there are no physical Apple Stores in the country, the first online orders are now being delivered in New Zealand, and the phones should also be available through local carriers and authorized resellers. In Australia, however, Apple Stores are currently opening their doors to customers eager to get their hands on the first publicly available units.
Apple is launching in 12 regions around the world. Apart from New Zealand, these include Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, the U.K., and the U.S.
Apple Stores and some third-party vendors are opening at 8 a.m. local time to take walk-in sales.
At first-party outlets, some regions will be accepting retail purchases by reservation only — namely China, Japan, Hong Kong, and tax-free American states such as New Hampshire and Oregon. Scalpers could potentially target tax-free states as a way of racking up higher profit margins.
Fresh online orders have been delayed into October, making a retail purchase the only option for getting an iPhone this weekend. At many places, though, shoppers will have to line up early to get a chance. People have been camped out at some locations for days or weeks.
Malcolm Owen
Andrew O'Hara
William Gallagher
12 Comments
Now, this year, the first person better not drop theirs.
Not simultaneously. NZ is 2 hours ahead of Aus' East coast.
Foursquare is predicting 16M phones will be sold on launch weekend. http://venturebeat.com/2015/09/24/foursquare-predicts-apple-will-sell-13m-iphone-6s-and-6s-plus-this-weekend/ Somebody needs to let bear Andy Hargreaves at Pacific Crest know. He predicted lower demand, "meaningfully so" based on google searches. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-24/apple-s-new-iphone-hits-stores-as-cook-faces-growth-questions
My 64GB Space Grey 6 Plus has arrived! [IMG]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/63324/width/200/height/400[/IMG] I've already been to a bar to celebrate with some friends (????) had it stolen out of my bag (????) had it found by someone (????) had that someone try and wipe it (????) who then had a change of heart and returned it (????) to Gizmodo (????) who've reviewed as mind-blowingly awesome (????) but who then (EVENTUALLY) returned it to Apple (????) but it's only just re-arrived NOW at my place after Apple sent it to back to me! (????) All in the space of today. The world is a beautiful place!
I live in rural Australia, and I mean like having to take a small jet ride over the valley. I didn't think they would make the delivery today. But tracking just updated to picked up 22/09 and is currently on board for delivery 8.30am 25/09. Yay!