The day is officially here and people lined by the hundreds to get Apple’s latest device. Will this release be Apple’s last great release ?
Apple employees do their best to make standing in line feel like a party, often chanting to stir up the people in line or offering them coffee. And when the doors open, there’s always a lot of clapping.
The phone itself has undergone several changes that are supposed to make it a new and compelling gadget. The screen now measures 4 inches instead of 3.5-inches, which brings it more in line with premiumsmartphone offerings from its competitors. Apple says that it’s also 18 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter than the iPhone 4S.
Apple’s iPhone 5 is also supposed to be much faster than earlier phones, and comes with a material makeover in aluminum and steel. It is also the first Apple phone with the capability to run on high-speed 4G LTE networks.
The iPhone 5 starts at $199, which gets users 16 GB of memory. The 32 GB and 64GB versions are $299 and $399, respectively. The phone is available on Verizon, Sprint and AT&T, which launched its LTE network in ten more cities in the week ahead of the launch.
In the District, an AT&T spokesperson said, they’re also seeing lines at their stores, although they’re much more muted. Ahead of store openings, AT&T stores across the region had lines of about 15 to 30 people. In Columbia, about a dozen people camped out overnight for the phone’s launch.
The moment of celebration has already long-passed for customers in Australia, Asia and Europe, where lines were just as long and the mood was just as excited.
According to a report from News.com in Australia, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak was on hand in Brisbane to sign autographs for fans. In Japan, the Associated Press reported, police in Osaka were looking into the theft of nearly 200 iPhones — many from the same shop — ahead of the launch. A London man, according to The Register, told waiting customers at the company’s Regent Street store that they were all “mad” while running up and down the line.
