Two weeks later, New Yorkers wait 4 1/2 hours for an iPhone

We are waiting for the release of iPhone (3G version) in INDIA. Did anyone know from where i get this. I know one site but its for UK (Cheap Monthly Mobile). Plz tell me…

I already had an old one and waited on Mon the 14th for 4 hours at the 5th Ave location. There’s no way I would’ve been able to wait that long if I hadn’t been still pretty mellowed-out from my vacation the week before. Still, it is pretty funny – once you’re in line for an hour, you bargain with yourself to stick it out longer….. and longer …. and longer. It’s a real psychological phenomenon. I sold my old one for $300 in 15 min on craigslist – it was crazy how many calls I got for it. I broke even, I figure – except for that lost time in line.

Sucks for them. I stood in line 1 week later for 1 hr in an air conditioned mall no doubt. Good luck New Yorkers!

-The West Coast

@Anonimous

I wud hang neither to the Titanic nor the Life Preserver (whatever that is) cos the vortex of the sinking hull pulls everything together with it.

All my money is in inflation linked bonds, and when all the iMoonies will wait for AAPL to show them its powers on the way down with the Dow and the Nazz, I will sit tight and see inflation going to 10% and being compensated for it.

You may have asked ur question in a different manner: what wud you rather invest in – something that goes down by 30% (in real terms – the Dow, watch this space in 12 months), or something which will go down by 10% (AAPL).

The answer is – I wud invest in cash, and protect it by inflation linkage.

Dont say i did not tell you.

In the last six months, Apple has gone up 20% while the Dow has fallen about 10%. In the last year, Apple has zeroed out while the Dow has fallen 15%. In the last two years, Apple has gone up 160% while the Dow has zeroed out.

If the Dow is the Titanic, then Apple is a life preserver on the Titanic. As it sinks, the Titanic is going to pull a lot of things down with it, including life preservers.

Which would you rather be hanging on to – a life preserver or the Titanic?

I already had an iPhone and I stood in line for three hours for the new one. But I had a semi-decent resaon, my daughter needed both a phone and an iPod, so I gave her my old phone. Aside, from that, i would have waited the few weeks to get a new one.

It is not so much that the iPhone makes one look cool, it doesn’t. No one cares what phone you have or what it does beside you. I just know now that my commute to and from work is filled with stuff I want to do for me. Not to mention I can surf at work without fear of offending any company policies regarding the internet or email, without having to carry a laptop around with me. I can take a game break or read the news. I no longer carry photographs of my children in my wallet because they look immensely better on the phone, which also takes pretty decent pictures as well. I can keep shopping lists on the phone (that is soooo handy) Not to mention various alarms, calendars, movies, music, restaurant reviews and suggestions (again, pretty neat) as well as some other location based services.

Now you do not ‘need’ those things, I mean we do not really ‘need’ cellphones, remember the 70’s? But the bottom line is that once you have features that you use, you do not want to lose them and the 3 hours I spent inline is a very small price to pay over all.

What Paul and many other on this board just don’t get is, this is the best phone ever invented. Whatever the Iphone can do today (which is a ton), will be nothing compared to what it can do a year from now.

The apps store is what really makes this device special, and profitable. New cool programs will be coming out all the time. Some will be “no-name” programs but a lot will be from big companies looking to cash in on the Iphone. You will soon be considered an uncool company if you don’t have your own widget in Apple’s App store.

I, like many others on this board have the foresight to see, that this company is going to change the cellphone industry. Imagine 18 months from now with 60 million Iphones activated, and each one of those customers buying an extra $50 dollars a month worth of Itunes, games, and App store purchases.

All that’s without even mentioning that the Iphone’s popularity will expose even more new customers to Apple’s PC.

I have bought this stock at $125, and more at $165, and would buy it anywhere under $225. As long as Jobs doesn’t drop dead (and maybe even if he does), this is an easy double over the next 18 months.

@Paul,

pls understand that for the bloggers who talk below about “addiction”, “hurray” and rubbish competition, Apple is more than a commercial corporation producing gadgets. It is more of cult, a kind of religion or perhaps even better – a football team support (in a European way) – which in Europe is almost a tribal thing – you support your team forgettign that it is a commerctial entity – your teams success is YOUR success, your team’s domination is YOUR domination and your team’s blunders are lovingly forgiven.

this is why people here not only cheer AAPL as an investment – they YEARN for Apple to success.

Almost none of these “fanboys” is a true veteran Mackie, these guys like the product and not necessarily the Company. No, the Fanboys are relatively new to the bandwagon, some of them hate Microsoft (these are the Lefties), some of them just are into the “cool” hype that poseours all over the world want to be (”Apple makes me cool and special, like everybody else who has the white earbuds!”) and some indeed jumped on the bandwagon andwant to shout “I told you that Apple iscool so from er, 2006!”

Bottom line, people that que for iPhone are mostly Apple groupies, they want to prove that Apple rules.

4.5 hours just to buy a phone? I just don’t get it.

Am I the only person who simply cannot understand the thought process behind this? Are these people so concerned about having the (perceived) latest greatest gadget that they are willing to wait hours or even days on line for an overpriced and under-featured phone with an admittedly nifty GUI? What planet are these people from? What will they do when in 6 months Apple releases the next version of this same device that highlights the foolishness of their hours-long wait? Will they again feel compelled to wait hours on end to fork over another $XXX dollars? It’s all complete and utter nonsense.

I personally find it highly amusing whenever someone at my office or otherwise takes out their iPhone in an obvious ‘hey, look at me, I’m cool – I have an iPhone’ moment. In some ways, it makes me question whether or not the person has an inferiority complex, and needs to accessorize his or her personality in order to compensate.

I bought a 3G phone about 2 and a half years ago, for less than $100 and with about a 2 minute wait. Yes, I know, my phone doesn’t make me as cool as the iPhone makes its owners, but at least mine sends picture messages, and I spent the other $400 on something other than Jobs’ Gulf Stream V.

Went to the Apple store last night. We were told that they had stock but that they could not sell it because of limits on how many iphones AT&T allows them to activate per day. The sales person suggested we go the the AT&T store and place an order.
In 15 minutes we had ordered a new iphone which will arrive next week. So a return trip to the AT&T store within a week for activation and bringing home a new 3G iphone. So why wait in line?

I’ll bet Microsoft wishes they had people waiting in line for Vista. Haha! Apple is the future of cell phones for sure … and maybe of computers also. I bought as much as I could afford when AAPL was at 160. Now, I’m just waiting until next year to watch my investment double.

It is never a good idea to mix “addiction” and feelings witn investment decisions. Clearly, Apple has a cult-like following but this must be at least to a certain extent reflected in its valuation. The demand for its products is there but this deman is more or less known – only some new and “incremental” information shud really move the valuation substantially.

Basically, you dont buy shares in the company because it’s “good”. I made most of my money on so called “dogs with fleas”. I bot them cheap, they stayed “dogs” but I made money because I sold them less cheap then I bought them.

Let me give an example: Google is a fantastic company, spews cash, high growth, etc. Yet, if you pay $1,000 per share, you will lose half of your money – on a FANTASTC company!

So, dont mix love with business guys. Is is a recipe for troubes.

This is amazing. They are selling them as fast as they can make them. I’ll bet they are well past 2 million already. I think they will sell 8 M this quarter, and an equal number next.

They will also download over 100 M apps.

The big thing is – these iPhone sales will bring people into their stores. I hope the layout is such that people have to file by the iMacs and MacBooks in order to buy their iPhone. hehehe

Waiting for hours for something they already have (the 2G is 95% similar to 3G and upgradeable)?

it’s called iDiots.

You’re right, Doug! Plus they have some new, exciting products to release in the near future! Definitely time to short.

Anyone with any sense should be buying as much Apple stock as they can afford. The depression will be over by early next year after the election and new president. Apple will have 10 million iphones out there and that translates into 8-10 million new imacs, mac books, macbook pros. We are talking about HUGE growth. I like the last post about Apples bad news. Profits, Growth , Demand but finally the secret of apple Addiction!!! You can take my car, home, food…..but “dont take that iphone from my cold dead fingers” Be smart……..make money..

I stood in line twice before I got my iPhones. It’s all about signing up with AT&T, which took me about a half an hour for my wife and myself.

It’s probably a lucky thing for Apple: They clearly had nowhere near enough iPhones to handle the demand.

My favorite App Store program so far: Pandora. It also happens to be free.

Bottom line: It’s worth the wait, folks.

More bad news for Apple. First the huge profits, and now this. Can it get any worse? Short it!