Got to Get an iPhone? Here Are Some Tips: Scout Out Stores That Will Sell the Highly Anticipated Device
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By Jim Rossman, The Dallas Morning News  Jun. 22--Lately it's been hard to avoid the hype about Apple's iPhone -- and for good reason.   Apple Inc. chief executive Steve Jobs is a master at creating buzz. Never before has a wireless phone been the subject of such a buildup.
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ The amazing Apple hype machine soon could help unaffiliated wireless carriers sell bunches of music-playing wireless phones.  The debut of the much-heralded iPhone is thought to be imminent, though Apple and AT&T Inc. executives remain mum on the exact timing.
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(InfoWorld) - When Apple launches the iPhone on Friday, it is set to get a jump on its competitors and spark a flurry of new phone designs, regardless of how well the device actually sells. By introducing a combined smartphone, mobile e-mail platform, and MP3 music player with a touchscreen interface, Apple has sent other hardware vendors running back to their drawing boards. And the company has enjoyed positive press coverage since CEO Steve Jobs announced the iPhone in January, analysts said. Apple is feeding the fire with strong advertising in its retail stores. On Monday, staffers at the Apple store in the Cambridgeside Galleria mall in Cambridge, Massachusetts, wore black T-shirts with the logo "the wait is almost over," printed above an image of a calendar page for Friday, June 29. iPhone anticipation has already created a "halo effect" of increased sales for Apple's notebook and desktop PCs, an impact that is likely to increase after the launch, according to a report from ChangeWave Research. Apple posted a strong profit for the last period despite struggling with a U.S. federal investigation into executives backdating their stock options. In April,Â Apple beat Wall Street expectations by posting a profit of $770 million for the second quarter, an 88 percent rise from that period last year. Because the company has already garnered media attention and a sales boost from iPhone demand, Apple will suffer little damage even if the device is a flop in retail sales, one analyst said. "No way Apple will seriously impact Nokia or Motorola or Samsung, who combined sell over a billion phones a year. But if Apple manages to sell several million, then that is probably pretty good for their overall business," said analyst Jack Gold, founder of the research firm J. Gold Associates. "I think the potential gold mine is in the services, not the phone hardware." The iPhone will bring new subscribers to Apple's iTunes online music store, and Apple could make more money if it decides to launch future wireless mobile products like navigation, location-based services, VoIP telephony, and video streaming, Gold said. In the meantime, Apple has already given a headache to competitors scurrying to catch up, such as Motorola, Samsung, and LG Electronics. Even vendors with comparable products -- like Nokia's N Series and High Tech Computer's HTC Touch phones -- lack Apple's cachet and will have trouble competing on store shelves, he said. In fact, some experts are warning that iPhone sales could fall short of Apple's high expectations. Their criticism includes potential user confusion about Apple's "virtual keyboard," a battery that may fade too fast and is not user-replaceable, andÂ resistance by some corporate IT departmentsÂ to the added expense and security risk of supporting mobile e-mail networks in addition to the servers they use to support Research in Motion's BlackBerry device. Those drawbacks could limit the iPhone's success in the business market, said Shaw Wu, an analyst with American Technology Research. Still, the iPhone will be popular with those who tend to use smartphones more by scrolling through menus than typing long messages and who have made Apple's iPod music player a huge hit despite similar concerns about its battery, Wu said. Likewise, consumers will likely shrug off corporate security concerns and use mobile e-mail systems from GoogleÂ and Yahoo. In the long run, Apple will use the iPhone to beat its competitors in creating an end-to-end channel for digital media, spanning from Mac PCs to the mobile iPod music player, iTunes online store, and Apple TV set-top box for sharing Internet and television video content. The only thing Apple could do to spread that net even wider would be to offer iPhone models at less than the current $499 for a 4GB version and $599 for the 8GB, Wu said.
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With the iPhone, Apple offers a glimpse of what's to come.
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You'll want to read this Q&A before standing in line to buy Apple's shiny new iPhone.
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The hooplah. The stories. The comment Apple's iPhone goes on sale in the US this evening. The queues have formed, and limits placed on how many of the handsets punters can take away with them. What is all the fuss about? Find out by reading Register Hardware's most popular iPhone stories...â¦
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In retrospect, Apple should have made a disclaimer before the iPhone went on sale Friday at 6pm: If you want an iPhone, don't go to an AT&T store. Hoping to avoid massive crowds, many iPhone buyers ventured to smaller AT&T stores, like the one in Asburn, Virginia. But it turns out the real stock was located at Apple's own stores, and standing in line was not a requirement.
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There's more to gain than lose from the upcoming iPhone.
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Plus: iPhone price cut, Google Phone rumors, and more.
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SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK  - Hundreds of gadget fans,  or their paid stand-ins, lined up on Friday to be the first  buyers of Apple Inc.'s  iPhone, a music and video  playing phone that seeks to reshape the mobile industry.
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Blog: No one's quite sure how the much-hyped product launch will go down, but here are a few ways you might be able to make the coveted smartphone yours.
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While many who snapped up Apple Inc.'s iPhone were using the latest must-have gadget even before leaving the store, some buyers were put on hold as they experienced frustrating delays in activating their cell phone service.
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Can&#39;t get an iPhone? Here&#39;s how some hot cell phones from other manufacturers measure up.
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(InfoWorld) - New Yorkers have a reputation for being a hearty lot, and those who want to be among the first to buy an iPhone Friday seem to be made of a particularly tough constitution. Despite temperatures that soared above 90 degrees Fahrenheit Tuesday, several were already lined up outside the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The leader of the pack was Greg Packer, a 43-year-old retired highway maintenance worker from Huntington, New York, on Long Island. Packer lugged his supplies, which included water and clothes, and set up a camping chair on the street outside the store on Fifth Avenue at 5 a.m. EDT Monday morning so thatÂ he could be the first in line for Apple's latest gadget. Though he's committed himself to spending nearly five days living on the street for the iPhone, Packer said he's not "computer literate" and doesn't own an iPod. "I'm not really a technology person, but I'm doing the best I can to keep up with technology," he said. However, two of his favorite things are music and the phone, so Packer -- who said he has camped out early for concert tickets and sporting events in the past -- wanted to be first in line to get the product that combines the two and provides Internet access at his fingertips. "I want to see what it's like," he said. "I want to give my review of it." Packer isn't the only one consumed with iPhone fever. At 2 p.m. Tuesday, there were three people with chairs in line behind him, and a fifth person said he was joining the queue while Packer was being interviewed. (That move seemed unlikely, however, since the man was dressed in casual business attire and had no supplies or other equipment that one might have for a four-day camping excursion on a New York City street.) Jessica Rodriguez, a Bronx resident on summer break from New York's Boricua College, said when she stopped by the Apple Store on Monday, she had no intention of camping out. But after talking with Packer and the others lined up outside the store, "it motivated me to want to come." The iPhone release is a "groundbreaking moment for cell phones," said Rodriguez, who wants to be a part of "something that's going to go down in history." The Bronx resident hopes she can buy at least one iPhone for her sister, who has a birthday coming up, but would like to buy two so that she can have one. The staff of the Apple Store is being "secretive" about how many phones customers will be able to purchase when they go on sale, she said. Apple store representatives asked Tuesday how many iPhones users would be permitted to buy Friday had different answers. One said there will be a limit, but the store had not been informed of how many could be sold to each user, while another said she "hadn't heard anything" about a limit on the number of iPhones users could buy. Rodriguez seemed unfazed by the 90-degree-plus temperature on Tuesday, though she had just arrived that morning and had not yet spent a full day and night on the street. "If you go to the beach, it's this hot," she said. The Apple Store on Fifth Avenue is open 24 hours, and both Packer and Rodriguez said they are taking breaks and using the store's restroom when needed. They're also getting help on their mission from friendly New Yorkers, who are bringing them food, water, and other items they might need for their long wait. Mia Bleyman, who works in the same building as the Apple Store, stopped by Tuesday and presented Packer with a mini electric fan to help keep him cool. She works for the Estee Lauder cosmetic company and said she can see the iPhone queue from her window. "Everyone's so excited," said Bleyman, who had also brought Packer Doritos, chicken soup, and other food and beverages since he'd set up camp. Bleyman acknowledged that she thinks it's "a little bit" crazy to be lining up for days in the summer swelter just for a new gadget. But in defense of Packer and the others she said, "I don't think he thought it would be this hot." The iPhone goes on sale at 6 p.m. local time across the United States Friday. Like other Apple stores, the New York stores on Fifth Avenue and on Prince Street in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood will close at 2 p.m. and reopen at 6 p.m. for iPhone sales.
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Apple's much-anticipated iPhone is finally hitting the market. So, was it worth the wait?
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Apple Inc.'s  iPhone may be  too expensive for most Americans, but the much-hyped device is  expected to help AT&T Inc.  win quality customers and  drive shoppers into its stores.
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Barely out of the shops in the United States, Apple&#39;s eagerly anticipated iPhone is the subject of increasing speculation about how and at what price it will be rolled out in Europe later this year.