Yes, boys and girls, people (sheeple?) are queueing in front of the New York City Fifth Avenue Apple Store. However, all of them have an ulterior, self-promotional motive, while a plucky pair in London are using the their iPhone 5 line pole position to raise money for cancer research. And, it is now official, the iPhone 5 is huge — Apple has announced they have already sold two metric butt tonnes.
First off is a Fortune write up covering “we’re first” crews adorning Apple Stores in New York and London. Of the eight folks camped in front of Apple’s biggest Apple Store in Gotham, all are pimping something or another, including a social media startup (Vibe), a self-promotion blog (iphonewhatever.com), one hoping to sell his spot in line and a pair of budding hip-hop musicians wearing Gazelle.com t-shirts.
On the other side of the pond, there just happen to be two guys from Kent, about the iPhone 5 they were specifically bent, so to the London Apple Store they went. Actually, Ryan Williams and Peter King are hoping to use their pole position in the iPhone 5 line at the Covent Garden Apple Store in London to raise money for Cancer Research UK, which is a laudable goal.
Apple’s Virtual iPhone 5 Line
The mothership has announced that iPhone 5 pre-orders in the first 24 hours more than doubled the record set by the iPhone 4S. While many of the two-million-plus folks who placed their bets early will get the iPhone 5 on September 21, an indeterminate and perhaps larger number will have to wait until October.
“iPhone 5 pre-orders have shattered the previous record held by iPhone 4S and the customer response to iPhone 5 has been phenomenal,” said Philip Schiller, senior vice president, Worldwide Marketing. “iPhone 5 is the best iPhone yet, the most beautiful product we’ve ever made, and we hope customers love it as much as we do.”
Yup, the iPhone launch is going just swimmingly so far — it’s almost as if Apple has done this before…
What’s your take?