iPhone 3G international launch lineblog
by Ryan Block 
posted Jul 11th 2008 at 8:31AM
10:32AM ET: Indeed, depending on what employee you talk to, in-store activation via iTunes is either "slow" or "down" -- but either way, they're handing you the phone unactivated, which needs to be completed by connecting to iTunes from the comfort of your home. Beware: if you're upgrading, your old SIM will be immediately bricked, so you'll be phoneless until you complete the activation!
10:21AM ET: We're hearing that Apple's activation servers are having intermittent problems, with lines coming to halt at both Apple and AT&T stores, and that some carrier stores worldwide are sending people home because they can't activate phones. Stranger still, some people are being told that they can "activate at home using iTunes." We're getting more info as fast as we can, we'll let you know.
9:42AM CT: Things are wild in Chicago as well -- at least 500 strong at the Apple flagship on Michigan Avenue, 100 at the AT&T flagship on State, and at least 200 at the AT&T store on Chicago. Austin and Andy here started waiting at 3PM yesterday, through some major rain -- that's nerd dedication.
Keep going past the break for updates from Chicago, NYC, the rest of the US, and all the other international mayhem. Also, be sure to hit us up with your own pictures and experiences at the email address above!
How do you know things are crazy? Well, remember last year when exactly two people were in line at the flagship AT&T store on State Street in Chicago? Uh, yeah. This is AT&T second, less well-known location on Chicago Avenue, where Aubrey and Jose have been waiting since 1AM:
Update (live from the Cube): It is an absolute zoo at Apple's 5th Avenue store in New York. While the line doesn't seem as long as last year, the feeling of desperation is considerably thicker. And yes, the hippies are here -- they got new sunglasses. See below.
7:36AM ET: Unlike the first iPhone launch, people in line seem to be slightly informed about their position or the protocol for getting into the store. On the other hand, Apple seems to be far more in control this time. Still, the amount of yelling makes it seem like a riot could break out at any moment. We're going to hit the crowd and hear what's on the minds of the obsessive, twisted individuals waiting this out.
8:01AM ET: They're going in!
8:11AM ET: And they're in! Apple employees are doing their ego-booster / cult thing by standing at the door and cheering like maniacs. Same as last year, just way, way more G's.
8:19AM ET: And they're coming out! About 15 minutes after it all began, customers are slowly trickling out with phones in hand. Here's wishing you good luck, AT&T network!
Keep reading after the break for more from the cube,
7:55AM ET: You're not going to believe your eyes, but our main man Greg Packer is not only in this line... he's at the head of it! Greg tells us he was shepherded into line by the kind souls here who knew him from last year -- and he's ready to sign a new contract with AT&T. We're only a few minutes from the start of the mayhem... stay tuned!
8:59AM ET: "Just got my 3G iPhone from one of the AT&T stores in NYC. Some details: 1st in line arrived at midnight; I was number 14 arriving at 6:00 am; no 16GB iPhones (only 50 8GB); according to the store manager, none of the AT&T stores received the 16GB model." [Thanks, William]
8:37AM ET: From inside the 5th Ave. Apple store. [Thanks, Scott]
Meanwhile...
While you slept the iPhone 3G made its way to Japan and the backpacked through Europe with a little 00:01 launch celebration (puff puff, 'ere) with T-Mobile in The Netherlands, scroll on down for all the awesomeness.
The iPhone 3G has landed -- in New Zealand anyway. Let us tell you, it was an absolute madhouse. Everyone kept mentioning that for low-key Kiwis, this kind of thing was total pandemonium. Above: iPhone Jonny getting completely swarmed by reporters after he walked out of the Auckland Voda store. (And for the record, the other two midnight launch stores hadn't opened yet while Jonny was getting his.) More live launch action below.
4:59PM in Auckland, New Zealand - We paid a visit to the soon-to-be first ten iPhone 3G owners waiting for Vodafone's midnight New Zealand launch -- despit the cold, people seem in pretty good spirits. More soon as the launch gets under way.
Midnight in Auckland - The New Zealand swarm begins! Hundreds gathered to line up down the block and way around the corner for a shot at a device.
8:49PM in Tokyo, Japan: Line around the block and past the train station at Softbank store in Harajuku [Thanks, Kristoppher T.]
3:37PM in Denmark [Thanks, Patrick S.]
Japan should be going off sometime soon -- send in some shots, people!
Oh, here they are:
4:15 PM in Tokyo, Japan: About 30 people are lining in front of SoftBank flagship store, which opens at 7 AM tomorrow. [Thanks, Thomas Bertrand]
1:02AM in Vancouver, BC: "Absolutely no one is lined up anywhere in Vancouver, BC. (Both Fido and Rogers locations.)" [Thanks, Michael Bettiol]
6:45PM in Sydney, Austrailia [Thanks, David Pincus]
11:00AM in Denmark, Copenhagen: "My friend and I started the line in Denmark at 4:30PM (GMT+1) on July 9th and it will be available at 00:00 on July 11th." Sounds like their ten tent was lit on fire or something... stay safe, kids! "But it is totally worth it. We are now around 20 in line and have got a lot of Danish media attention." Ah, that explains it. [Thanks, Preben Uhrskov]
08:17AM in Palo Alto, CA: "We interviewed the first 3 guys waiting in line @ the Apple Store in Palo Alto, CA. last night. They talked about their love for the iPhones and the big plan on utilizing public utility to power their Xbox 360 to play Guitar Hero." Public power was never put to such good use! [Thanks, yummyporky]
00:28AM in Omotesando, Japan: "Hi, I'm now lining up at Harajuku area, about a few hundred meters away from the shop. Japanese media have estimated the crowd to be around 700-1k. I'm now around 6xx." He got to shake hands with the CEO of SoftBank, pretty fancy, but it sounds like he won't be getting his iPhone for a good long while, CEO germs or no. [Thanks, Cheung Ka Wai]
10:00PM in Gothenburg, Sweden: We got a blank MMS forwarded to our email. [Thanks, 467064*****]
11:50PM in Wellington, NZ: "Just got back from the Wellington Vodafone launch with these images." The real question is, where did you get those snazzy jackets? [Thanks, Alice Gott]
05:36PM in New York, NY: "I am 14yr old and my father is giving me an iPhone for my birthday. I am in line at the 5th avenue store (26th in line) and all around me people are selling last gen iPhones for as low as $50. I am considering buying one of those instead of paying $299 for a new one." Don't do it, little man! You'll regret it the rest of your life. Or for like, four days.
04:42PM in Calgary, AB: "Just drove past the one of the few stores in Canada that will be opening early tomorrow for the launch. Looks like Calgary hasn't caught the fever cause it was completely dead. I'm sure if a crowd forms tomorrow it will be a frenzy of people thinking there in for another free pancake breakfast that have been happening all week as part of the annual Calgary Stampede. Just another testament that Rogers has left a bad taste in the mouth of Canadians." [Thanks, Loren]
2:50PM in Palo Alto, CA: Looks like there's 3+people, the chairs in the back there are totally empty, which is wierd. Also, the lady in the foreground on the right is blocking Numero Uno's face. [Thanks Andrew Ryan]
6:16PM in Montreal: "All quiet on the Quebecois front, as both the main Rogers and Fido stores (across the street from each other) on Ste-Catherine are devoid of iPhone campers as of 30 minutes ago. Attached is some photo documentation. Sorry about the over exposure, it's not my camera. If you want to do me a solid and through in a link in the attribution to propellerhead.ca that'd be right nice of you. Or not." [Thanks Adam]
12:25AM: About 330 people in line @ Telia flagshipstore @ Kungsgatan in Stockholm. [Thanks Kristofer Blomdahl]
4:30PM in Calgary, AB: "People are camped out at a few locations, even thru the HUGE hail storm calgary just got blasted with. Some are lines up at a few local malls as well, none at the location I'll be going to at midnight... yet. Lets hope things dry up between now and then." [Thanks, Mike S]
9PM at London's Regent St. Apple Store: "Note says that the guys queuing are selling their number one position in the queue on ebay with a link. Sorry didn't write link down." [Thanks, Maani S.]
2:46AM in Madrid, Spain: Our brother and sister from Engadget Spanish, Carlos and Drita, are in Spain in the wee hours of the morning waiting it out at numbers 3 and 4 in line at a Telefonica. Here's hoping they nab phones quickly and painlessly!
10:36PM Rotterdam, The Netherlands: The line runs about 500 people deep.
10:39PM Rotterdam, The Netherlands: DJ Meta mixes an iPhone from within an iPhone 3G.
11:58PM Rotterdam, The Netherlands: The iPhone 3Gs arrive by armored car.
00:00AM Rotterdam, The Netherlands: The iPhone 3Gs are handed to the T-Mobile store manager.
00:09AM Rotterdam, The Netherlands: After being whisked outside you're looking at the first iPhone 3G owner in The Netherlands.
Early AM, Indianapolis: iPhone 3G camping at an Indiana mall grabs the attention of the The Man. [Thanks, Joe G]
5:55AM in Chicago, IL
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Mauricio Cuenca @ Jul 10th 2008 5:47AM
Hey man... I am here in Spain and it seems there's a problem with your CDN because we can see the photos hosted on blogsmithmedia.com. For example, trying to get this pic: http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/2008/07/iphone-3g-lineblog-01.jpg
I get the following error:
Service Unavailable - DNS failure
The server is temporarily unable to service your request. Please try again later.
Reference #11.ccc93451.1215683053.b1525c3
I'm following the iPhone news desperately, you know that an image is worth a thousand words.
Jason @ Jul 10th 2008 7:11AM
try using www.opendns.com
Flashpoint @ Jul 11th 2008 1:31AM
I'VE GOT JUST ONE QUESTION.
How long till Ziphone.org or some other hacker group CRACKS THIS THING so I can use it on whatever service I WANT regardless what Steve Jobs says.
BrianB @ Jul 11th 2008 9:45AM
Jesus Phone! It's like Christmas.
CUBSWILLWIN @ Jul 11th 2008 9:59AM
Thanks for more Chicago pics. And you were right about the major rain, it was like hell last night. The thunder and lighting made te sky look as bright as white at 11 PM
Colin B @ Jul 11th 2008 10:30AM
I've got one question Flashpoint. When will you shut the hell up and/or disappear from Engadget?
Alan Strangis @ Jul 11th 2008 11:32AM
Toronto live blog of iPhone release is here.
http://www.rgbfilter.com/?p=95
Dwear @ Jul 10th 2008 6:18AM
It would be interesting to see if the white iPhone 3G is going to be out across the globe tomorrow.
In the UK, O2 do not have a launch date as yet, (so they say), which really sucks! As I'm an existing customer, I have to upgrade over the Internet, but if there not available in stores, I imagine there's going to be a lot of pissed off customers tomorrow!
Anyone got any dates or information on this?
Mark Walton @ Jul 10th 2008 7:20AM
You definately don't have to upgrade online, you upgrade in store tomorrow, 02 relased an offical statement today on their site. Though unfortuantely the white iphone won't be available at launch!
OneLove @ Jul 10th 2008 12:05PM
All these hungry people waiting in line are going to be whining later on...just wait.
CUBSWILLWIN @ Jul 10th 2008 12:14PM
Can anyone tell me the action happening at any of the apple stores in Illinois, including the one on Michigan ave. in Chicago.
CUBSWILLWIN @ Jul 11th 2008 8:58AM
Thanks for Chicago. Pssh. It was like the last pic. No love for our city.
Twitchy @ Jul 10th 2008 6:22AM
I wonder if he's whoring his GF out in order to pay for the monthly subscription?
nate @ Jul 10th 2008 7:02AM
no, i'm inclined to think not.
or was that a question you wanted answered?
Patrick Steffensen @ Jul 10th 2008 6:52AM
Pic from Denmark http://macnyt.dk/gallery/images/picUploads/121567989555106950.JPG
Jakob Henner @ Jul 10th 2008 5:20PM
Yeaah it just looks nice in Copenhagen, about 200 people is in line right now.
Rumor has it Denmark got 2.000 more iPhones than Switzerland, although the population is 2 mio. higher in Swissieland and they have much more attractive plans.
Wwhat @ Jul 11th 2008 9:26AM
Looks like a cooler crowd than many other places to me, more real.
tumnasgt @ Jul 10th 2008 6:51AM
I live in NZ, and I would get an iPhone if it wasn't for the f****ing ridiculous plans Vodafone is offering, 250NZD/month if you want the phone for NZD199, or starting at NZD80/month but the phone is NZD549. Why can't we get decent plans like most other places.
tsamb @ Jul 10th 2008 6:57AM
iPhone in NZ...
Cheapest 24 month contract plan:
Initial 8GB iPhone purchase, $549
Per month, $80
That is 120 minutes and 250MB of data per month.
W.
T.
F.
Up yours Vodafone, I hope you get the lowest 3G iPhone sales per capita in the world.
Twitchy @ Jul 10th 2008 7:35AM
Don't forget that in some countries there is also WiFi included - such as in the USA where AT&T and Starschmucks have a deal to let iPhone users surf there for free.
The good thing about the iPhone pricing here in NZ is that it has made plain and obvious what most have suspected for years - that a duopoly is a very profitable thing.
Phil @ Jul 10th 2008 8:50AM
Pure fanboy exploitation.
Phil @ Jul 10th 2008 8:55AM
I for one welcome our telecommunications cartel overlords.
(yea, it was an afterthought, but I couldn't resist)
Justin @ Jul 10th 2008 5:26PM
Hey man, those red Vodafone beanies aren't gonna pay for themselves.
My condolences to all the Kiwis, though. That sucks balls.
Robert Simpson @ Jul 10th 2008 7:10AM
@Dwear - O2 told me yesterday that we were fine to go into the stores on the 11th and upgrade. I don't think they're shouting about this fact yet as they have almost no stock, apparently. They just created this new policy yesterday.
Oh and they couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery.
everchanging @ Jul 10th 2008 7:15AM
does anyone remember what happened last time ppl waited in line for an iphone? you could walk into any store the next day and buy them no wait. this time the lines will move SO SLOW its not worth it. wait 2-3 days, heck u can even track inventory online at apples site.
Matsta @ Jul 10th 2008 7:38AM
Just to tell you. Theres only gonna be around 16 iPhones in most stores so there won't be any in the morning most likely.
Matsta @ Jul 10th 2008 7:30AM
Screw a blog full of crap.
Go to georgefm.co.nz
Their streaming live directly from the Auckland store (NOT THE ONLY NZ VODAFONE STORE OPEN AT MIDNIGHT)
ShadowKain @ Jul 10th 2008 8:02AM
The 3G will never make the impact that the original did, yes the data network is faster, battery life still sucks ( more now?), I love my iPhone, but this over-hype just bores me.
Matsta @ Jul 10th 2008 8:03AM
Jonny has entered the building
trumpton @ Jul 10th 2008 8:03AM
Wow. More pictures of idiots in queues masquerading as tech news.
You just keep on putting wood on the Apple PR bonfire like good little faithful fanboy poodles, Engadget, and forget all about your readers and what your site is supposed to be about.
Zak @ Jul 10th 2008 6:01PM
Right, because there are no other stories on Engadget at all? Are you blind or just stupid? Stop bitching and use this.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/20/tired-of-iphone-and-or-apple-news-on-engadget/
Andy @ Jul 10th 2008 11:48PM
I work in the GM building, which houses the 5th Ave. Apple Store, and there's been a line all week. Tomorrow's going to be a madhouse, because going into that store usually is crazy on a normal day.
Rich Hayler @ Jul 10th 2008 9:08AM
Currently queuing for the iPhone in the UK - if anyone has nothing better to do and wants to follow me checkout http://twitter.com/hayler
Mark Anderson @ Jul 10th 2008 9:12AM
Have you considered getting a life?
Rich Hayler @ Jul 10th 2008 9:27AM
Funny coming from a bloke that is obviously "wasting his life away" reading and commenting on this thread.
Mark Anderson @ Jul 10th 2008 9:35AM
It's either that or do some work.
Rich @ Jul 10th 2008 5:15PM
I hope you packed an umbrella. :P
farfisa @ Jul 10th 2008 9:26AM
Hope you don't get any spam!
go seki @ Jul 10th 2008 9:38AM
A short Vid of the countdown in Christchurch - "Lucy" one of the first to buy one .. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsTRF3nYkqk
Cheers
seki
go seki @ Jul 10th 2008 9:44AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTe3wq6-3_k another short Video of "Lucy" buying one of the first iPhones at a retail store in Christchurch, New Zealand.
lilredridinghood @ Jul 10th 2008 10:05AM
I wanted to get one, but the price offered by Vodafone is more than enough to help me keep my wallet in my pocket.
In Lambton Quay, Wellington at around 10pm, there were only like 20 to 30 people lining up? Pathetic
Jubei @ Jul 10th 2008 11:22AM
This is so exciting. Congratulations to the new owners of iPhone 3G.
Steven Vance @ Jul 10th 2008 11:48AM
Could we say that Engadget is now a 24-hour newz network?
simon @ Jul 10th 2008 6:05PM
Release of a new mobile phone counts as news?
Aaron @ Jul 11th 2008 7:44AM
Obviously. Did you not see the news camera crews in the photos above?
Tom @ Jul 10th 2008 12:33PM
I sooo want an iPhone... only problem is, our country has the most expensive iPhone in the world! :( And only 250 available tomorrow...
If you're interested, posted a story about the iPhone ordeal called "Smurfs, French Fries and the most expensive iPhone in the World" at: http://www.hypedworld.com
Guess I'll have to wait (and save!) a little bit longer. :(
Madmilk @ Jul 10th 2008 2:11PM
why here is no pics from Finland... The publishing ceremony started an hour ago... Yeah... There's music and all...
Jakob Henner @ Jul 10th 2008 2:43PM
Finland is Nokia-land, iPhone can't launch in Finland :P
Boris @ Jul 10th 2008 9:09PM
It still did, however.
yummy @ Jul 10th 2008 2:34PM
We interviewed the first 3 guys waiting in line @ the Apple Store in Palo Alto, CA. last night. They talked about their love for the iPhones and the big plan on utilizing public utility to power their XBox 360 to play Guitar Hero.
http://blip.tv/file/1067918/