There has been a muted response to Apple’s iPhone 8 and 8 Plus going on sale. One has become accustomed to the sight of Apple fans queueing in droves to get their latest offerings.
While I always thought they put the “i” into idiot, it could be quite cute: some would queue, tooled up with sleeping bags and, one presumes, Kendal Mint Cake. It was as though they were involved in a perilous quest and weren’t just trying to get their hands on a phone a whole couple of days earlier than everybody else.
However, this time, there was barely anybody queueing in London or, indeed, other sites across the world. You couldn’t really call it a queue in London – the meagre scrum had the ambience of a disused bus stop.
Some reports say that those who queued were outnumbered and applauded by Apple staff when they opened the doors. Is this all to do with the imminent arrival of yet another new iPhone (iPhone X) in just over a month or is the dreaded brand fatigue setting in?
Come November, all should become clear as to whether the Brits have lost their appetite for queueing for Apple.