As with any Apple product launch, the recent debut of the iPhone 5 meant long lines for those Apple devotees and non-Android smartphone shoppers who wanted to get their hands on one of the first available units. Evidently the widespread complaints about the new dock connector size and the new Maps application were not enough to repel the hundreds of iPhone fanatics willing to spend the night outdoors outside of multiple Apple retail outlets across Southern California so they could score one of the first handsets available.
Tyler Allen was one of the first shoppers at the Grove Shopping Center Apple Store in Los Angeles to get his hands on the new iPhone 5, and the 25-year-old early Friday morning lifted his new purchase above his head triumphantly, firing up the crowd and receiving multiple cheers. The pizza shop manager waited approximately 12 hours in line, choosing to play video games instead of sleeping. Comparing the new iPhone 5 to a Bentley automobile, the Koreatown resident repeatedly used the word “sexy” to describe the device.
Approximately 250 customers were waiting in line at the Grove in the LA Fairfax district, and approximately 50 would-be iPhone 5 purchasers lined up on Beverly Boulevard just outside the Beverly Center store. In Santa Monica, the long line of iPhone purchasing hopefuls wound all the way to Wilshire Boulevard a half a block away, wrapping around a Banana Republic retail outlet. As has become commonplace during Apple product launches, those willing to spend the night or stand in line for hours set up their coolers and folding chairs, talked all things Apple with other anxious waiters, and frequented nearby restaurants and fast food joints.
Across the country in the United States Apple opened their retail stores at 8 AM on Friday, and in many places iPhone 5 purchasers were simply selling their spot in line. 19-year-old George Adams was at the Grove at 6 PM Thursday with 10 of his friends so he could be the first in line, and he and four of his friends received $100 apiece for their spot. The response nationwide was so strong that it even surprised Apple, who claimed that many of the pre-orders that were placed will not get shipped out until October. Steve Marlowe was a 21-year-old shopper at the Grove who had been hoping to purchase a 16 GB black iPhone 5. When he found out the store was out of stock he settled for a white model, and remarked triumphantly, “I still got my iPhone.”
