iPhone UK: The Liveblog
Greetings TUAW readers, from our temporary HQ located just outside London's Regent Street store. Yes, that's right: we're live from London until 6:02pm tomorrow, updated as and when yours truly isn't too busy consuming food (or caffeine for that matter). If you're in-line for an iPhone somewhere in the U.K. and have a tip to share, be sure to link to photos in the comments or hit us up on our tips form.
You can follow photos of the UK iPhone launch via this handy link.
The day started with a few clouds and was largely dry, but by half-past four, torrential rain was pouring down. Thankfully Apple-supplied umbrellas, and large store bags, (as well as umbrellas of our own) kept us relatively dry. We're now up to four folks in the queue, with two people joining this afternoon after leaving work early. If you're wondering what things are like in line, you might want to check out this article on Pocket Lint (which also includes some photos- no prizes for spotting the TUAW blogger in the midst of things). One slightly amusing, and stress-inducing, moment was when one staff-member from a local Carphone Warehouse store came to the queue, berating us that 'Apple wouldn't sell us an iPhone tomorrow, until CPW had sold 'X' number of units'. We boo-ed him off, and things are now back to normal - if a little damp.
Later in the evening, we're visited by ITV News who talk to the queue's leader, TechCrunch UK's Mike Butcher popped by to check out the queue and Greg Joswiak from the iPhone marketing team was in-store to check things out for tomorrow's launch.
After dinner, which was bought to us by folks from The Cloud Wireless Broadband, we proceeded to enjoy a second meal courtesy of TrustedPlaces (whose co-founder not only provided food, but stayed around and made sure the 5 of us were comfortable) - one thing we realised was that food would become scarcer later on, and so should eat when we could! Eventually, we settled down for a night by the store, with people constantly asking us: "What are we queueing for, or why we were queueing at all?" Folks of varying soberness, and sanity (ourselves included there) passed by, including two local community support officers who ensured we were keeping the peace (and of course, play with the iPhone that just happened to be around).
Thankfully, the queue is now starting to gain more people, albeit slowly, and with no rain (unlike yesterday's downpours) predicted, we're getting started on some more hot drinks to hopefully raise body temperatures close to normal.
0710: Phil Schiller, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Product Marketing has just rolled up:
1130: Matthew Key, O2 CEO just turned up, and headed into the Apple offices.
1530: With the Apple Store closed, the queue is slowly beginning to grow: the press have left, at least for now, and if you're still wanting an Apple-fix don't worry: the store staff appear to be selling small portable goods via their EasyPay handsets.
