Apple store plays host to Iphone 4 stampede
Inquirer staff THE INQUIRER
Long queues to spend £500 or more
THE SUN WAS OUT today for Apple’s long-awaited launch of the Iphone 4 and there were fanbois (and girls) galore queuing up and down Hanover Street in London, eager to get their hands on one.
Apple Store staff refused to give any sales estimates saying that they didn’t know how many people were in the queue or how many Iphones had been sold. Estimates of the crowd size ranged from around 600 people at 7am to 1,000 at 8am, when the store opened.
At about 9:30am the Apple Store was only letting customers that had pre-ordered an Iphone join the queue, suggesting that there could be problems with stock later in the day. Customers emerging from the store at 10am were the ones who had put in a nightshift queuing.
Andy Gowens was one such enthusiastic consumer who emerged from the store with a 32GB device, looking a little weary. The 21 year-old had not pre-ordered the Iphone on-line and had to wait nine hours, saying that while the experience was fun he would “never do it again”. When asked why he wanted the Iphone on the first day, he explained that his Iphone 3G was running very slowly and he wanted to upgrade to the Iphone 4 for its new features. The features he was most looking forward to using were the multi-tasking and the 720p camera. Gowens said the transaction in-store took about 30 minutes to complete and there were representatives from the major operators offering micro-SIM deals inside.
One customer who had been in the queue for over two hours said that he was most excited about using the Internet and watching video. The Iphone 4 was going to be his first smartphone purchase and he had reserved the smartphone online to pick it up in-store. Facetime was not really generating that much buzz amongst the crowd, but it is early days yet for the application. µ
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