Apple's iPhone to hit stores, hundreds line up
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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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Apple Inc.'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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By Brier Dudley, Seattle Times  Jun. 25--I don't know if they realize it, but those people lining up to buy Apple iPhones on Friday are guinea pigs.   They may be after a nice phone or the newest version of the iPod.
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Thousands of U.S. gadget  fans made an orderly pilgrimage to stores on Friday to be among  the first buyers of Apple&#39;s iPhone, a music- and video-playing  device expected to reshape the mobile industry.
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(InfoWorld) - How badly do you want anÂ iPhone? Would you pay $1,500 to buy one? How about $300 for someone to wait on line for you? A cottage industry to help the desiring acquire the coveted Apple device is springing up prior to its Friday evening U.S. launch. Posts on Craigslist offer a host of options for those unable or unwilling toÂ wait in lineÂ themselves. Others are simply cutting to the chase and offering the device itself for as much as three times its retail price. Online resale of popular electronics items at a premium, especially game consoles such as the XBox 360 or Playstation 3, is nothing new. However, such hysteria has never greeted the launch of a mobile handset before. The iPhone's sale launch seems increasingly like the release of concert tickets than the debut of a consumer electronics product. However, unlike tickets to a live event, which is time-sensitive and has limited capacity, the iPhone sale period will be ongoing, and Apple expects to sell as many as 10 millionÂ of them next year. Also, Apple has not announced per-person buying limits for iPhones on launch night. Because of the nature of cell phone sales in the U.S., where most phones are "locked" to a particular number and service provider, Apple is unable to use what would otherwise likely be its most successful sales channel: its online store. Instead, consumers are forced to go to AT&T and Apple's physical stores to get the goods. Neither its ultimate availability nor the $499 price tag has stopped market forces from coming into play. Lazy buyers can choose line-waiters based on price and location. In California, one would-be waiter in Walnut Creek "will wait in line @ Apple Store in WC for 80 + Beer and a pack of Smokes." That's a veritable bargain compared to "Vince" in the Danville/San Ramon area, who's asking $300 to "wait in line for the release of the iPhone at the San Ramon AT&T Store on Bollinger starting Friday, June 29, 2007, at 8 a.m." In New York City, $250 seems to be the going rate for an all-day wait. "This service is for people who want an iphone on launch day, but have a day job and therefore cannot wait on line. I have at leastÂ 5 line-waiters who are up for the job," wrote this anonymous poster. While Craigslist is awash with iPhone-related listings, eBay's site is devoid of any advance sales of the handset. In March, the auction company said in March that it would remove pre-sales for the phone. However, eBay policy only prohibits listing of items that cannot be shipped within 30 days of purchase. EBay representatives were not immediately available for comment. Those with far more money than time can buy an iPhone outright, at least if anonymous online sellers can be believed. "Avail for pick up Friday after 6pm. $1500 cash only," reads one ad. Caveat emptor. Â
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Blog: Apple and AT&#38;T stores have started advertising the iPhone, promising "the wait is almost over."
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Blog: Two days before the iPhone hits store shelves, and there's still no line at the AT&#38;T store in New York City's Times Square.
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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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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.
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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 Inc.'s highly anticipated iPhone will be available June 29, according to TV commercials broadcast Sunday night and posted on the company's Web site.
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NEW YORK -- Apple Inc.'s highly anticipated iPhone will be available June 29, according to TV commercials broadcast Sunday night and a company spokesman.
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Apple's iPhone 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.
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SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK  - Hundreds of gadget fans, or their paid stand-ins, lined up on Friday to be among 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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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. began selling its iPhone Friday, ending six months of waiting by consumers and rival smartphone vendors.
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During its quarterly earnings conference call Monday, Apple Chief Operating Officer Timothy Cook estimated that 250,000 iPhones were sold to people with the intention of unlocking them, adding that most of those sales happened after the $200 price drop.