Apple&#39;s iPhone to hit stores, jolt mobile industry
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Apple Inc.&#39;s iPhone hits store  shelves on Friday in a consumer spectacle that has whipped  gadget fans into a frenzy over a device that challenges  business as usual in the mobile phone industry.
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Apple confirmed the launch date of its highly-anticipated foray into the mobile handset market in a Sunday night television ad: the iPhone is coming Friday, June 29. That doesn't mean the device will be easy to obtain, however, as Cingular customers are expected to line up in droves for the $599 USD phone.
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Apple Inc.&#39;s  highly  anticipated iPhone, with service provided by AT&T Inc. ,  will go on sale June 29, the company said on its Web site on  Sunday.
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(InfoWorld) - Apple began selling its iPhone Friday, ending six months of waiting by consumers and rival smartphone vendors. Store managers at AT&T retail shops and Apple's own stores are throwing open their doors at 6 p.m. in each U.S. time zone, having closed the shops several hours earlier in an attempt to control expected crowds. At the Apple store in the SoHo section of New York, there was a carnival atmosphere throughout the afternoon, which built to a climax with a crowd of hundreds counting down from five, right before 6 p.m. In the last hour before doors opened, a man was even heard selling spots close to the front of the line to those who were closest to the back. Amid whoops and hollers, movie director Spike Lee was the first to walk into the store, saying he was there for charity. A Brooklyn, New York-based charity called Keep a Child Alive grabbed first place in line earlier in the week, using its position to publicize its plans to auction an iPhone on eBay and use the money for charity. "They asked me to be a part of it," Lee said. He noted that the charity did the "hard part" waiting in line all week in front of the store and said he felt lucky to be part of the effort. Actress Whoopi Goldberg was second in line. When asked what she was doing there, she commented on the media crowding around her, saying "I don't really know at this point." When asked whether she was going to buy a phone, she said yes. About 10 minutes before the doors opened, an Apple employee came out with instructions and tips for the crowd. He said people could buy up to two phones each and encouraged people to buy iPhones before shopping for accessories. By morning, the line outside the SoHo store stretched for three blocks. Some enthusiasts were napping in folding chairs while others talked on the phone or to each other as they waited. Temperatures had dipped nearly 20 degrees Fahrenheit since Tuesday, and though the skies threatened rain, the weather provided a more comfortable atmosphere for iPhone enthusiasts than the summer heat that assaulted them earlier in the week. Bill Mac and Jonathan Bricklin had another way to pass the time -- they had a small ping-pong table set up as a way to promote their social networking site, The Naked PingPong Club, which encourages people to meet by playing ping-pong. Mac said he was waiting for the iPhone because it would allow the two to run their business entirely from a phone without needing a PC. "In LA [the mobile office] is about your car, in New York it's about your phone," he said. Later, Mac took a break from line to visit a local cafÃ©, Aroma, where he was overheard on his current phone telling someone about the two-iPhone limit. Meanwhile, at an AT&T store in downtown Boston, Craig Henry took a sick day from work to gain the second place in a line of 65 people. "I have a Motorola Q and a BlackBerry, but this lets me get rid of the phones and the iPod," Henry said. "I'll sell it (the iPod) to you if you want." Apple has prepared for what it calls "iDay" with the company's customary secrecy, sharing few details about the phone's internal workings or how many phones it has manufactured for the launch. The company has said it wants to sell 10 million units worldwide by 2008, but CEO Steve Jobs warned on Friday that he may not have made enough iPhones to meet demand for the launch. In fact, that goal is modest by Apple's own standards; the company sold more than 10 million iPods during the first quarter of 2007 alone. Other factors that could lead to slow sales are consumer wariness about the iPhone's battery life, the utility of its virtual keyboard, and its high price. The phone comes in a 4GB model for $499 or 8GB model for $599 and requires a two-year AT&T service plan ranging from $60 per month to $100 per month. However, Apple says the iPhone will win converts with its touchscreen interface and combined functionality of a mobile phone, iPod music player, and mobile Internet browser. The company says those features will differentiate the iPhone from other smartphones like the Motorola Q, Palm Treo, Research in Motion BlackBerry, Samsung BlackJack, Sony-Ericsson W900-series, Nokia N-series, and LG Electronics Prada. To handle the expected rush for iPhones, Apple has extended the hours in its 164 U.S. retail stores until midnight. But the majority of customers will buy the phone at one of the 1,800 AT&T retail shops, also scheduled to push their usual 8 p.m. closing time back to 10 p.m.
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Apple Inc.'s highly anticipated iPhone will be available June 29, according to both TV commercials broadcast Sunday night and a company spokesman.
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By Jason Gertzen  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 scheduled for June 29.
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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 expected to reshape the mobile industry.
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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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LONDON - Apple Inc. took its million-selling iPhone trans-Atlantic yesterday: Chief executive Steve Jobs said it will go on sale in Britain Nov. 9.
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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.
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No list of trends would be complete without a mention of Apple's iPhone, a device that many handset manufacturers will be looking to beat in 2008 in order to attract a consumer that is ever more interested in advanced wireless services. Many of those devices will debut at CES next week.
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Apple made a big splash when it announced the iPhone last month. But with its hefty price tag, restriction to a single carrier and departure from many traditional smart-phone features, buying the iPhone requires careful forethought.
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Apple says its much-anticipated iPhone product will hit US stores on 29 June, at a cost of $499 for the entry product.
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SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK  - Thousands of U.S. gadget  fans flocked to stores on Friday to be the first buyers of  Apple's iPhone, a music-playing and Web-browsing device  expected to shake up the mobile industry.
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InfoWorld - The number of iPhones manufactured by Apple may not be enough to meet customer demand when the smart phone goes on sale later Friday, CEO Steve Jobs said in an interview published the same day.
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Apple Inc.'s  upcoming iPhone  is shaping up as this year's must-have gadget, but several  perceived shortcomings are pushing some potential buyers to  wait for an updated version.
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For consumers eager to get their hands on an Apple iPhone, here&#39;s the good news: It will be available in all 1,800 AT&amp;T phone stores at 6 p.m. sharp on June 29. The bad news? &quot;We fully expect one or more of our stores to run out of stock on the first or second day - my guess is the first day,&quot; says Larry Carter, senior vice president of sales for AT&amp;T, the iPhone&#39;s exclusive U.S. distributor.