Thousands Wait In Line For iPhone Debut
Posted June 29, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It’s the classic business technique – create a better mousetrap then find a way to sell it so that everyone wants to be the first on their block to own one. Only a few times in recent history has a product so excited the public, they’re actually willing to wait outside overnight to be first in line to get their hands on it.
We saw it most recently with the Nintendo Wii, Sony Playstation and XBox video game systems. And now history is repeating itself with Apple’s much hyped iPhone. The product’s official sales launch on Friday was accompanied by bells, whistles, and few other tunes designed to turn consumer interest up to full boil. And boy, did it work to perfection.
The new gadget, which promises to be innovative even for a company that’s known for changing the rules, has led to scenes of would-be customers waiting in the rain or scorching sun since Thursday to get one. It didn’t actually fly off the shelves until 6pm, but that didn’t stop the diehards from showing up early.
The phone features a 3.5 inch touch screen display, contains a built-in iPod and promises to do a host of things no other phone has ever done before. ( See the full list here.) It’s a lot more expensive than your average cell phone, ranging from US$500-600.
But that’s part of what’s making so many so rabid to get one. “This phone is going to blow everything out of the water,” predicts Tony Cecchini of San Antonio, Texas, who’s been waiting outside a store in a drenching downpour since Thursday morning.
In New York, customers with credit cards in hand and sleeping bags on the ground sat in front of Apple’s Big Apple store waiting to get in. Some have been there since Monday.
Jerry Taylor brought a portable golf putting course to his San Francisco outlet to pass the time. He’s been there more than 24 hours. “I got here at 8am and was shocked I was the first in line,” he notes.
Some have even started a mini-business, offering to wait in line for others – for a fee.
With so much interest building over such a long time, the product is expected to reap more than a small fortune for its creators. And you know what’s coming next – the device will sell out fast and turn up for double or triple the price at online auction sites by Friday night and the weekend. The purchase limit is one per person per store.
And what about Canada? So far, Apple hasn’t said when its much vaunted product will go on sale here. But that hasn’t stopped some gadget crazy Canucks from heading to the border. Many have driven to Buffalo to pick up their own iPhone – even though the only thing they’ll get on it when they come back is a busy signal.
