Steve Wozniak lines up with hundreds in Queensland for the release of the iPhone 5 at Chermside Apple store. Picture: Patria Jannides Source: The Courier-Mail
- iPhone 5 launches in Australia
- Apple cops criticism for Maps
- Secrecy and security before doors opened
THE Phone 5 has officially launched in Australia and now buyers across Asia, Europe and North America get their turn.
In Brisbane, the Apple hysteria started with people lining Queen Street Mall, and in the northern suburbs, hundreds snaked their way through Westfield Chermside for the release of the latest iPhone.
Staff in blue shirts whistled and cheered as each new customer was escorted into the store where Steve Wozniak, one of the original founders of then-Apple Computers mingled with customers and appeared to sign autographs.
The hype was made all the more surreal by the secrecy, with tight controls over the release meaning very few had had a chance to preview the new handset before purchase.
TAFE student Shannon Mobbs said he barely looked at the phone in the store, he just bought one, and queued for nine hours, because he "wanted a new phone".
In finally opening the box, it was the thin design and lightness compared to the heavier 4S that stood out.
And the verdict?
"I'm happy with it," he declared.
"I haven't used it yet but I'm happy with it."
Fans who had spent the night waiting for the world-first release in Australia of the bigger, faster iPhone 5 handset beamed as they exited the Apple store clutching white bags with their new most treasured possession inside.
"I'm so excited because I've been waiting for a long time," 27-year-old Nobel Lin said. The Apple fan joined the queue around 9pm last night to secure a 32- and a 64-gigabyte phone for himself and his sister.
The scenes were similar elsewhere in the world.
In New York, several hundred people lined up outside Apple's 5th Avenue store. Jimmy Peralta, a 30-year-old business management student, waited three hours before getting the chance to buy his new gadget. Was it worth the wait?
"Definitely," he said, noting that the new phone's larger screen and lighter weight compelled him to upgrade from the iPhone 4.
"A little treat for me on a Friday morning, why not. Why not be part of something fantastic? It's just such a smart phone it does all the thinking for you, you can't get any easier than that."
Catheryne Caveed, 23, was in line at a Verizon store in the Queens borough of New York. An iPhone 4 user, she had no regrets about skipping last year's model, the iPhone 4S. The only real upgrade in the 4S, she said, was Siri, the voice-controlled "personal assistant."
"The 4S looked the same as the 4," Ms Caveed said. With the 5, "everything is different - even the headphones."
In London, some shoppers had camped out for a week in a queue that snaked around the block. In Hong Kong, the first customers were greeted by staff cheering, clapping, chanting "iPhone 5! iPhone 5!" and high-fiving them as they were escorted one-by-one through the front door.
The smartphone will be on sale in the US and Canada hours after its launch in Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Britain, France and Germany.
It will launch in 22 more countries a week later. The iPhone 5 is thinner, lighter, has a taller screen, faster processor, updated software and can work on faster "fourth generation" mobile networks.
The handset has become a hot seller despite a new map app that early users have deemed inferior to Google Maps, the software it replaces.
Apple received 2 million orders in the first 24 hours of announcing its release date, more than twice the number for the iPhone 4S in the same period when that phone launched a year ago.
In a sign of the intense demand, police in Osaka, Japan, were investigating the theft of nearly 200 iPhones 5s, including 116 from one shop alone, Kyodo News reported.
In London, police sought help finding a man wanted in connection with the theft of 252 iPhone 5s from a shop in Wimbledon early Friday morning.
Analysts have estimated Apple will ship as many as 10 million of the new iPhones by the end of September.
heart attack grill morganza spillway machiavelli clenbuterol
0 comments:
Post a Comment