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From Times Online

November 9, 2007

Apple fans camp out for iPhone

Overnight temperatures of 7C did not stop hardened fans queuing to be the first to own Apple's new toy this evening

Apple staff bring cups of tea to people waiting in the queue for the new iPhone

Jonathan Richards

Click here for a video review of the iPhone

A hardened core of Apple fanatics braved temperatures of 7C (45F) overnight in order to be the lay their hands on their iPhone when it goes on sale this evening.

Sleep-deprived, shaken from a early morning encounter with some drunkards, but otherwise buoyant, the five or so who camped out on Regent St, Central London, now have only hours to wait before they can buy the device they have coveted since it was announced 11 months ago.

First in the queue behind some metal barricades was Graham Gilbert, a 22-year-old computing student who arrived at 8.30am yesterday after travelling down from Manchester.

Mr Gilbert, an owner of eight Apple products, including four iPods and two computers, said he thought it would be fun to "hang out with like-minded Apple geeks," but admitted that some of his friends thought he was "a bit sad."

He said he had paid £40 to cancel his existing contract with Vodafone so that he could sign up with O2, the iPhone's official partner network, just after 6pm tonight.

Asked whether his interest in the product bordered on the obsessive, Mr Gilbert said: "It's a bit like a religion. Some people don't understand it, and think it's stupid. But then some people also think Christianity's stupid. It's no different, really."

Three along from him - past some sleeping bags, a pair of woollen gloves and a packet of wet wipes - was Lisa Freeman, the only woman in line. Ms Freeman, 31, a receptionist, said she had taken the day off to queue up, and likened the experience to "the camaraderie you get in the Christmas sales."

She said she had only slept for one and half hours, and that a group of drunkards had screamed at her at about 3am telling her she was "wasting her f***ing time", but that others passers-by were more supportive.

A nearby restaurant supplied pepperoni and margherita pizzas, she said, and another company - the Cloud - which is partnering with O2 and Apple to provide wi-fi access to iPhone owners across 8,000 hotspots - brought hoodies.

Paul Waite, a web developer who joined the queue at 5.30am this morning, said that the experience of hanging out with "other Mac people" was "a bit like going to a rock concert."

Asked what about the iPhone - which will cost £269 not including the minimum 18 month contract - was so compelling, he said: "It's the whole package...the design. It's like Star Trek. It's the stuff you dream about."

Many standing in the queue outside Apple's flagship store - which by mid-morning had grown to 20 or so - had broken contracts with their existing networks in order to be eligible to get an iPhone.

One Vodafone customer said he would 'unlock' the phone using software downloaded from the internet - so he could keep his contract, and while this meant that he would be unable to receive any updates to the phone Apple may issue, he said that didn't matter.

There was also a consensus that £269 was not too much to pay for a device that was a phone, e-mail server, music and video player, internet browser, personal organiser, and camera rolled into one.

"To me it represents good value," said John Hammond, 23, who arrived at 6.30am. "Some other high-end phones can cost between £400-500 if you buy them without a SIM card."

Apple, O2 and Carphone Warehouse stores will all shut in the early afternoon today, before re-opening at 6:02pm with iPhones on the shelves.

Aside from the usual Apple hype it really does seem that on both sides of the Atlantic there is a very high satisfaction with this new product.Well over 1 Million buyers cannot all be dumb.When will phone makers realise how frustrated we get drilling through endless menus, scrolling down endless useless options that are designed to extract more money from us?It's the software that makes Apple products sell. Looks are important but ultimately we just want a phone that does what we expect it to do, quickly.None of the Samsungs, Motorola's, sony Ericsson etc come close to having intelligent phone software.

george, london,

I got one oif these iPhone's from the states, and I have now gone back to my old XDA phone as the iphone is just too basic. Yes it's pretty, but the sms on it is like those around in the late 1990's, you cant forward or copy or paste, just basic reply, the headphone socket is non standard so you cant use any headphones without a special 3rd party adaptor. You cant use it like a normal phone when making a call, its either use the supplied headphones or use it as a speaker phone, as in no holding the phone up to your ear like a normal one. The camera is the most basic I have ever seen on a phone in this day and age. Yes there are postives, but all the reviews out there go over these and never mention the things its lacking, I would personally say dont buy the mac boys/girls and apple's hype, but if you want a basic teletubby phone and dont mind Â£269 + 18 months contract, then go for it ;-) For the rest there are far better phones out there, or wait for v2 of the iphone next year.

Graham, Southend, Essex

Bought one on ebay a week ago. Im not a fan of apple computers they dont really do the real world stuff, but the Iphone is the best thing since sliced bread for keeping up with the real world and the fun stuff of music/video web etc. Is worth all the hype

Keith, Raffrey, Down

Wow, five or so people actually queued for this thing!

I don't understand why people have such a compulsion to purchase the latest gadget? Boring...

Ravinder S, Notting Hill, England

Sounds like all the good points are also available on the touch. Features such as the 2MP camera and EDGE web browsing don't sound very revolutionary. I got a dinky 3G mobile which can surf the net and take pictures. I've got an 8GB Touch for Â£200 which can do all that nifty pinchy stretchy wifi browsing stuff as well as listen to music and watch videos. To be parting with an extra Â£60 plus a Â£35 18 month contract for with extra "phone" features feels wrong you could get a 16GB Touch for that. Imaing walking down the road with one of those slab by your ear? If you didn't think those white earbuds would make you a target...

Mr I P Freely, London,

Ha, all the little whiners are out to state their uneducated perspective on the iPhone and share with us their sad and mind-numbingly boring lives.

Of course, you can wait a year until it's superseded. but then, why not wait another year for the next iteration, and another year ...

An undeniable fact is that only Apple can deliver software of this excellence, and this is a first generation model, there is sooo much more in the pipeline.

My iPhone, here in Australia, works a treat ... thanks to ebay, and when it arrives officially, i'll get a kosher one as well.

zax zan, Sydney, Australia

I'm sorry; Did he really compare Apple with Christianity?

Simon, Warrington, Cheshire

1) No removable battery
2) No 3G
3) 2-megapixel camera, no flash, no zoom, no video..

Yeah iphone rocks.....

Apple is a corporate, its just got better marketing than all the other corporates we love to hate.
High Priced, high quality, under featured yet beautful with well designed interfaces...that sums up apple doesnt it?

Chris, London,

All you dissenting stiff-upper lipped Brits are Luddites & techno-phobes. In what sense is the iPhone not a revolutionary product? You can bash it all you want but the iPhone's interface is beyond anything existing in the market, including the buggy and unusable Windows Mobile 6. Don't talk to me about Nokia's Symbian OS, it requires 5-6 key presses just to change basic phone settings. Of course if something revolutionary comes along, you don't expect to get it for free. There is obviously a premium for technology. Unlike the NHS, in which case you really do get crap for free.

Bryan Khoo, Singapore, Singapore

Well, I queued for about an hour and a half in Basingstoke for mine. The shop was indoors, there was a bench at the end of the queue so I spoke with some other people and had a very pleasant evening.

The staff at the O2 shop came out with bottles of water and muffins for people in the queue and it was all very organised. I was first to the till, and had finished paying at 6:10. I was not pressured into anything (except the O2 insurance at Â£7.50 per month!!! - I declined obviously...!) and had a very pleasant experience.

I've now moved my Orange contract across to O2 with no issues at all, and am loving it. I used to browse the net at home with a Palm Tx (when I couldn't be bothered launching a real computer) and the iPhone is SOO much more useable.

Â£270 for a cute gadget that does everything I want when I'm out of the house? Bargain. Â£35/month? I was paying that on Orange for 200mins + 30 texts with no internet. I'm quids in!

There will always be doubters, but I love my iPhone.

John L, Reading, Berkshire

Was all for running out and getting Apple iphone but when I read that you are tied in with O2 for 18 months on a tariff which is a rip off... forget it. I can wait. I have a phone (ok not the same but not far off) and I am not that desperate to be ripped off.

CJ, Bexleyheath, Kent

Phone shop owners please cover all other phone displays with a black shroud or kindly supply copious amounts of tums. Why anyone would tolerate or want any other than iphone is bizzare. The "Star Trek" device we always wanted, has arrived. Do us all a favor and get one so i dont have to see your ugly handset.

Fred, Cambridge,

> "I cant believe how people have been suckered into a product which in 12 months time will be obsolute and will be half the price"

I canâ€™t believe you canâ€™t spell obsolete. Were you typing on an iPhone? :)

Every tech product will be cheaper and superseded in 12 months. Aside from being ahead of its time right now, like the iPod was, the iPhone has an advantage in this regard because most of its interface is done in software.

Apple has already improved the software and added features since the US launch 5 months ago. From next February, weâ€™ll have third party applications to look foward to, and we already have lots of web sites offering services tailored to the iPhone.

Thanks to the buzz, no other phones will have as much interesting software written for them as the iPhone. In 12 months, my iPhone will be better than it is now.

pauldwaite, Croydon,

You know you need to stand back, take stock, add onions, mushrooms and chicken for a lovely heart warming soup. You can then take it down to the queues of people waiting for their IPhone and sell it to them, making a tidy profit. In no time at all you'll have enough money to sign up to the 18 month contract.

Steven, London, England

You can lower the cost of your phone by seeing if your company will cover your monthly phone bill & data plan. Its a good deal for them as they did not have to buy and support yet another phone and you only have to carry one smart phone.

Greg, Mission Viejo, USA, California

How can John Hammond in the article say that the iPhone represents good value because some other high end phones are more expensive without a contract.

Surely the point is that not only is it Â£269 *with* a contract but it is an 18 month contract and until somebody unlocks it, a device that is useless on any network other than O2.

It may be pretty and there is no doubting that the user interface is slick. But I have been using more technically advanced phones since 2003 and I didn't have to pay over Â£200 for them !

Wayne Stallwood, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

get a nokia N95 8GB better camera does movies and you can add 100's of 3rd party apps are people mad suck in by a shinny product and gimmicks

Andy, Coventry, warks

Wow - I cant believe how people have been suckered into a product which in 12 months time will be obsolute and will be half the price. I mean look at the US - I looked at them over there and they cut the price just after it came out. But hey good for Apple - they are doing well as a result. I myself wouldnt want an iphone even if I was given one (and if I was given one I would sell it!).

John, London,

shiny but very little substance

Peter, London,

Incredibly 'sad'. Really. It is.

Ben Robinson, Brighton,

I already have an iPhone :) bought one in the states in september, and it has been the best purchase I have ever made so far. Also, it only cost Â£150, it is the 4Gb model though.

Colin, Falkirk ish, Scotland

Although, I'm a bit of an Apple fan myself...chaps this is just a phone. A stylish phone yes, but rather too pricey for my tastes when combined with the 18 month tie in.
I'll wait another 6-10 months for iphone II to hit the streets then I'll walking into Carphone warehouse on a warm weekend and purchase the updated version, hopefully for free on a 12mth Â£35 contract. LOL ( I know I'm dreaming on the contract conditions) .

Nevertheless, I hope the wait is worth it, I'm sure it will be, but with the cost be so....now that I have more doubts about. Oh and there is the 8-10 months you'll need to wait to upgrade when the iphone II is released.

Beth, Plymouth, UK

I agree with Phill - the fact that Apple think that 8 hours talk time is better than a high speed connection and can get away with charging nearly double the US dollar price just goes to show how dumb people are.
As for competition - whatever happened to freedom of choice.

I'd never pay that much for a phone if it was locked to one network, on old technology that will cost at least Â£899 over 18 months - you can buy a laptop and a 2 year limitless data connection for that much, twice over!

Marios Patrinos, Reading, UK

I have just received SPAM advertising iPhone from Digital Direct, whom I've already complained about to the Information Commissioner's Office. I'm not certain (the information appears to have been removed from their website) but I think they may be a subsidiary of Carphone Warehouse.

I used to be an unpaid Apple evangelist, but frankly, if they are prepared to be associated with persistent spammers as business partners in the UK, my loyalty, already eroded by recent problems with their products, has evaporated completely.

Ian Kemmish, Biggleswade, UK

You know you need to stand back, take stock and re-evaluate your life when you judge what other people do with their own bloody time, and their own bloody money. Worry about yourself.

Happy Camper, San Francisco, CA USA

You know you need to stand back, take stock (questionable choice of words, here) and re-evaluate your life when you are posting to technology forums.

Mohamed Barlow, Chester, UK

You know you need to stand back, take stock and re-evaluate your life when you're prepared to stand in the freezing cold, outside a shop for a bloody phone.

Phill Barlow, The Wirral, England