People lining up for iPhone 3G in New York already?!

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Saturday, 05 July 2008 16:13

Your IT - Mobility

Although there are “no plans to put out barricades” as yet, it may well happen closer to the date. In any case media attention is clearly fuelling the desire to stand in line, aside from being one of the first to get an iPhone 3G, of course.

In the UK, O2 plans to sell the iPhone from 7am onwards, beating AT&T’s opening time of 8am.

Whether Apple stores will also open at 8am is as yet unknown, but both AT&T and O2 are opening early because of the need to activate phones in store before being able to leave.

The in-store activation is needed to prevent subsidised iPhones from being unlocked later and thus purchased much lower than the iPhone 3G’s true price, which in Australia is over AUD $700 for the 8GB iPhone 3G and over $800 for the 16GB model.

No reports of lines forming in Australia have arisen as yet, but we can only assume it will happen here too closer to July 11.

Although supplies of iPhones may well sell out on day 1 of release in some stores, Apple does want to sell 10 million this year, so there’ll certainly be plenty of units available throughout the year for anyone that wants one.

One thing going against any Australian lines forming is the fact we’re in the middle of winter, so anyone brave or foolish enough to stand in line will certainly need plenty of warm clothing!