All was quiet on the Apple front this afternoon with a sum total of four people queing to buy the iPhone 4S. Picture: Charles Brewer Source: news.com.au
Jessica Morton, age 23 from Sydney said she was queing at Samsung because she would be getting an $847 discount. Picture: Charles Brewer Source: news.com.au
TWENTY-four hours until the iPhone goes on sale and the line in front of the Apple store was underwhelming to say the least.
A sum total of four people were queuing outside Sydney?s George St Apple store this afternoon, waiting to be the first to get their hands on the new iPhone.
The queue stands in stark contrast to last year?s shenanigans where 24 hours out there was a line of people down the street.
Obviously, more will join at the end of the working day, but maybe the whole queueing-for-Apple-products is a bit 2010.
Apple said it sold 1 million iPhone 4S units online on the first day it went on sale in the US, eclipsing the iPhone 4?s record of 600,000.
The scene at 1pm outside the Samsung "pop-up" store only 50 metres down George Street from the Apple store. Picture: Charles Brewer
Source: news.com.au
Out in the elements, there were more people queuing at the new makeshift Samsung store just two doors down from Apple store for the chance to buy a $2 Samsung Galaxy S II.
But with about eight or 10 queuers, Samsung?s numbers could also hardly be described as an army.
Student Jessica Morton said she was queuing at the Samsung ?pop up? store "because we're getting it at an $847 discount and we've not got much else better to do".
Though Ms Morton said she lost her iPhone 3G but that she didn?t want the iPhone 4 because she had ?heard bad things about it?.
?I was waiting for the iPhone 5 actually but it didn?t really happen.?
So while Apple claims pre-orders for the iPhone 4S has reached record levels, will the release day turn out to be a bust?
Three of the four people queuing at the Apple store this afternoon were teenagers who claimed they were buying the 4S because of the new voice activated ?personal assistant? - Siri.
Beau Giles, an 18 year old completing his HSC at TAFE told news.com.au that the iPhone 4S will be his third iPhone in almost as many years.
TAFE student Beau Giles, 18 from Newtown queing to get the latest Apple smartphone. Picture: Charles Brewer
Source: news.com.au
?I started with the 3G, and then went to the 4 and now the 4S,? Mr Giles said.
When asked whether he would consider switching to another smartphone provider like Android, Mr Giles said he wouldn?t because he?s ?quite set up in the IOs world so it'd be a bit of a pain to move to Android?.
15-year-old high school students Tom Mosca and Will Batterham both said Siri was the reason they are queuing for the phone.
Second in the Apple queue Wil Batterham, aged 15 from Roseville. Picture: Charles Brewer
Source: news.com.au
?I think probably Siri and the camera (is why I?m here),? Mr Batterham said.
Mr Mosca said he also wanted to test out the new eight megapixel camera.
?I also want a white iPhone,? he said.
Tom Mosca a 15-year-old high-school-student from West Hoxton was first in line at the Apple store and has been since Tuesday morning. Picture: Charles Brewer
Source: news.com.au
Back at the makeshift Samsung store, Ms Morton said if the Galaxy S II met her needs she would ?totally? consider making a permanent switch from iPhones.
?I don?t really like Apple owning my music and my property,? she said.
?It?s nice to have a programmable device to do whatever you want with.?
Perhaps neither phone are either Next or Big enough to be the Next Big Thing.
That might well have been on show down the street at Sydney University. ?Might?, because while Microsoft was hosting an event about the technology of the future, they wouldn?t be drawn on what technology consumers could expect to see.
Microsoft's Steve Guggenheimer flew out from the US to discuss Microsoft technology at an event this morning. Picture: Charles Brewer
Source: news.com.au
Microsoft flew out their corporate vice president Steve Guggenheimer from the US to present their ?Explore the Future? event.
Mr Guggenheimer said there was going to be ?a lot of innovation next year? but said the tech giant was not yet ready to release the details.
That made it difficult for any media present to explore the future, but Mr Guggenheimer assured them it was worth waiting for.
?You can be sure there's a lot of buzz coming off after build all the partners that we were working with for these devices on this holiday are working on devices for the next generation of software,? he said.
?They're not really ready to talk about them yet because they still have a lot of PCs they want to sell this year and a lot of consumers that are going to be able to buy those devices.?
When asked whether Microsoft would be bringing their tile based ?widget? application to the Windows 8 operating system a Microsoft employee said ?I?m not even going to go there.?
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