Queues start a day ahead of UK iPhone arrival
Two for a pand...show us ya money
Despite utterly miserable conditions last night in London, die-hard umbrella-armed iPhone aficionados began lining up outside Apple's flagship store on Regent Street yesterday morning.
Graham Gilbert, a 22-year-old computing student, braved the rain and bagged the honour of being the first in the UK iPhone queue.
Graham Gilbert - the green umbrella guy - is first in line
He told Register Hardware that he rocked up at 8.30am yesterday morning and had bunked a lecture for the privilege.
"I've been looking forward to the iPhone since it was announced in January," Graham said.
Would you queue for an iPhone? iDunno...
He said he planned to stay overnight and had his sleeping bag to hand, with friends bringing him and his queue-buddy, TUAW blogger Nik Fletcher, nutritional supplies.
Graham said he intends to buy an O2 contract for his iPhone and that he doesn't plan to unlock it, as it would just get "broken again" with the next iPhone update.
However, according to one Register Hardware reader these rain-soaked supporters needn't have bothered queueing. Peter Alexander tells us that he rang up his local O2 store to see if he could reserve one of these "newfangled iPhone things" and despite being told he couldn't, he was reassured that O2 have an "unlimited supply".
"Obviously, the back storeroom of O2 shops has some previously unheard of Tardis-like properties or the iPhone has a new unheard of never-out-of-stock feature," he told us.
The iPhone - reviewed here - will also be available from major Carphone Warehouse outlets when it goes on sale at 6pm tonight.
COMMENTS
I am pleased to report
That my local O2 and Carphone Warehouse which are only a couple of doors away from each other didn't have a single person waiting at 6pm. Good to know that far fewer people fall for hype in the north :)
ixpensive
My macbook pro owning - ipod using partner summed it up for me....
"nice piece of kit... but not at that price... not on that tarrif.... not on an 18 month contract"
Not all Apple customers are sheep blindly following the Apple brand wherever it wanders... thank god!
Masochists
If they're so desperate for this iProduct, why not just fly over to the States and get
one!?!? Maybe they just like sitting in the rain. Weirdos.
@ anonymous coward?
"I saw the iPhone on the Gadget Show recently and the reviewer clearly wanted to punch the living daylights out of the iphone in sheer frustration because of its deficiencies. However, he was unable to being stopped by the lovely shiny looks."
And you believed what you saw on the gadget show? - a show that panned the iPod shuffle because you couldn't select the track you wanted.
