Local
resident Andreas Gibson celebrates with employees outside the Fifth
Avenue Apple store after being the first to exit with an iPhone 6 in
hand on the first day of sales in Manhattan, New York. Image: ReutersApple
Inc's latest phone lured throngs of gadget lovers, entrepreneurs and
early adopters to its stores in New York, San Francisco and other cities
around the world in the latest sign of strong initial demand for the
new, larger generation of iPhones.
Even the night before the
phones' Friday debut, nearly 70 people were waiting in line in front of
the Apple store in downtown San Francisco. Some eager to get their hands
on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, which feature larger screens and
longer battery life, had been there since the night before.
At
the Apple store on Fifth Avenue in New York, the line of would-be buyers
stretched for more than 10 blocks. Apple employees led them in a New
Year's Eve-style countdown to herald the store's opening at 8 a.m. EDT
and high-fived customers as they entered the glass cube leading to the
underground store.
In Atlanta, police were called in before 5:30
a.m. to assist with crowd control at one mall location because of
worries about trampling, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
While
it has become customary for swarms of people to greet Apple product
introductions, Friday's long lines were still a sign of healthy demand
for the new models. The phones drew more than 4 million preorder
requests in the first 24 hours on Sept. 12, more than double the 2
million for iPhone 5s in the same period two years ago.
The
enthusiastic crowds gathered despite signs that Apple's legendary "cool
factor" may be dimming with some consumers, according to a recent
Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Sales predictions from investors tend to be
optimistic. Apple watchers tracking the early sales of the new iPhones
note that the precise number of units sold in the first weekend will
depend on the strength of the supply chain. A Friday report from
Barclays cited the long lines outside stores as a positive sign for
demand, suggesting that combined first-weekend sales for the new phones
could rise as high as 11 million units.
Despite the high demand,
sales could be choked by a limited number of iPhone 6 Pluses available
immediately. A T-Mobile US Inc spokeswoman said Friday that demand for
the new phones was "tremendous," but the larger model would not be
available yet.
Paul Terrebonne, a 26-year-old cook who had
preordered his space-grey iPhone 6, said the size of the new devices had
been enough to lure him back to Apple from his previous phone, a
Motorola Moto X.
"It's all about screen size, plus I missed the
iPhone's camera," he said, adding that he had shunned the iPhone 6 Plus
because it was "a bit too big."
The launch attracted buyers from
farther afield. Flavio Gondim, a 40-year-old Brazilian public sector
employee, said he was buying an iPhone 6 in New York because "back home
these are, maybe, 50 percent more expensive."
In Asia, many who
lined up to buy the new phones in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia
said they planned to re-sell the devices in China, where regulatory
hurdles are holding up the new phones' debut.
It remains to be
seen whether the renewed iPhone mania will extend to Apple's other big
product introduction, the Apple Watch, which will not be available until
early next year.