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Long lines for iPhone 4S launch in Hong Kong and Korea

Darrell Etherington — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 16:15:44 +0000

Apple has been facing a lot of negative attention lately owing to reports that it decreased orders to suppliers because of lackluster iPhone 4S demand, though some analysts disagree. The reaction to the launch of the 4S in 15 new markets on Friday, including Hong Kong, contradicts tales of flagging interest.

Hong Kong’s new flagship Apple retail store saw more than 3,000 people show up in hopes of getting their hands on a device or devices, but only 1,250 of those were allowed to actually line up. All new iPhone models were gone only three hours after the store opened. Many of the sales were apparently to people intending to resell the devices on the gray market in China, where the 4S has not yet made its official debut. Interest was no doubt also strong since Apple’s iPhone 4S pre-orders in Hong Kong sold out in just 10 minutes, so going out to stores was the next best chance to get a device early.

Police even had to break up altercations between customers and those waiting in line to secure devices for gray market resale, according to a report from M.I.C. Gadget.

South Korea also saw long 4S lines at Apple’s wireless carrier partner stores, since Apple doesn’t have any official retail outlets in the country as of yet. The first 100 people who pre-ordered their iPhones at SK Telecom were also invited to participate in pre-dawn activation celebrations with popular Korean hip hop stars.

Friday also saw the introduction of the unlocked iPhone 4S to the U.S. online Apple Store in addition to the international launches.

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Apple announces iPhone 4S release date for 15 new markets

Darrell Etherington — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 14:02:36 +0000

The iPhone 4S global rollout continues, as 15 new markets get the device starting Nov. 11, with pre-orders beginning this Friday, Nov. 4. Hong Kong and South Korea lead the pack, which will bring the total number of international markets where the 4S is available to 44.

Apple plans to have the iPhone 4S up for sale in over 70 countries by the end of the year, and its current pace of adding between seven and 22 countries per batch with about two weeks between each definitely puts them on pace to meet that goal fairly easily. Besides Hong Kong and South Korea, the 4S will also come to Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Malta, Montenegro, New Zealand, Panama, Poland, Portugal, and Romania beginning Nov. 11.

Pre-orders for the phones start in most of those countries, with the exception of Albania, El Salvador, Guatemala, Malta, Montenegro and Panama on Nov. 4, a week prior to the launch. By the time the 4S was available for direct sale in the first two crops of launch countries, it already carried a one- to two-week lead time for online sales, so customers in the new countries who are able to do so are advised to pre-order if they want to get their hands on a device as soon as possible.

International customers should remember that Siri, while not initially configured to work with maps and local search in international markets, should gain localization support sometime in 2012, according to Apple’s official FAQ for the voice-powered virtual assistant.

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Apple’s iPhone 4S pre-orders encounter some hiccups

Darrell Etherington — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 13:59:28 +0000

Pre-orders for Apple’s new iPhone 4S got started very early Friday morning, but they didn’t go off without a hitch. AT&T, in particular, seemed to have trouble getting its act together, resulting in some frustrated customers who were up very late. Apple itself also encountered delays.

AT&T was the only U.S. carrier partner who didn’t get their own website’s pre-orders off the ground at the originally planned time of 12:01 a.m. PDT (3:01 a.m. EDT). Apple was also behind schedule and its own pre-orders didn’t go live until around 12:45 a.m. PDT. AT&T’s pre-orders on its own site didn’t start going live until around 1:15 a.m. PDT for anyone, and even then the experience was inconsistent. Though each carrier had trouble with network issues, AT&T had by far the lion’s share of issues, as this jab by Verizon on Twitter obliquely points out:

Here’s a great quote by commenter John M from our original news post that sums up a lot of the reaction I saw from frustrated AT&T customers:

Does this also speak to their quality of service??? Guess I won’t know until I can take off the ATT contract handcuffs!!!

Those issues extended to Apple’s own website. Customers trying to purchase an AT&T iPhone 4S through Apple.com at first encountered repeated errors, until finally Apple suspended pre-orders altogether at the U.S. site while they worked on resolving their issues. Users instead were told their iPhone had been “reserved,” and they’d receive a follow-up email letting them know when they could complete their order. Those emails started going out around 4 a.m. PDT this morning.

Links included in the email lead customers back to the Apple Store to complete their orders, which is working fine this morning. As of this writing, the iPhone 4S is still listed to be delivered by Oct. 14 when ordered through the official Apple online store. We’ve confirmed that customers who have a reservation can still start the process as a brand new customer without following that link, and can still order a phone that way, too. Links to reserved orders from last night’s launch are valid until 5 p.m. PDT Saturday, however, so if stock levels change, customers who reserved a spot will still be able to jump the queue. Also, as of this writing, customers can’t access their account ordering information. Apple may be keeping this offline intentionally in order to avoid people taking down the servers with repeated refreshing of their order status.

While stock levels in the U.S. appear to remain strong at the moment, delivery times have quickly dropped already in other international stores. In the U.K., Canada, Germany, France and Australian stores, for example, the iPhone 4S shows a shipping time of between one and two weeks. That, as well as the obvious network issues encountered by Apple during last night’s launch, point to strong interest in the smartphone. We’ll have to wait until we get some firm numbers about pre-order volume before we can tell how this launch stacks up to previous ones.

Additional reporting by Cyndy Aleo.

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Apple’s iPhone 5 event reportedly to be an intimate affair

Darrell Etherington — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 12:29:35 +0000

Apple’s October iPhone 5 media event will reportedly be an intimate affair held at Apple’s Cupertino, Calif. headquarters in just over a week.

Typically, Apple does its big product unveils at larger venues, like San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, but AllThingsD’s John Paczkowski says this time around, it’s aiming closer to home.

Earlier this month, AllThingsD also reported that the iPhone event would take place Oct. 4, and it reiterates that announcement timeline in the new report. Oct. 4 is just over a week away, and Apple has yet to make any official announcements or send out press invites.

Paczkowski suggests Apple’s decision to host the event at its own on-campus Town Hall Auditorium might have to do with the company having trouble nailing down a fixed launch date in order to book an outside venue, or that it could be designed to help new CEO Tim Cook’s first time taking the helm go more smoothly.

Whatever the reason, a smaller venue means a more exclusive guest list. It’ll be interesting to see who will and who won’t be in attendance if the event happens as reported next Tuesday.

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The iPad 2 Launch Day in Pictures and Video

Darrell Etherington — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 19:58:47 +0000

The iPad 2 launch day is upon us, and as predicted, there are lines at Apple Store locations across the country. We’ve got staff at a few different locations who’ll be keeping us updated with pics and video, which we’ll post here for you to see. Check back regularly for new content and comments from the scene.

The first customer at the Leawood, KS store gets his iPads! From Dave Greenbaum:

Watch this video for free on GigaOM

The Apple Store opens in Leawood, KS, and Dave Greenbaum is there to catch the action:

3:20 — More new pictures in the gallery. A few new videos still to come.

2:44 — New photos in the gallery, including shots of Geoffrey Goetz getting his hands on an actual iPad 2!

Charles Jade shot this video of an Apple Store employee in NC telling people how to buy their iPads, and of the long line wrapping around the building:

2:18 — Updated with a bunch more photos, including some from San Francisco and one of the store opening in Durham, NC. Videos of store opening coming soon!

1:45 — Added a few new photos from Leawood, KS and Durham, NC to the image gallery below.

Another Mall of America customer looking forward to getting his hands on the iPad 2:

1:07 – Just added a bunch of new photos, including one of Apple setting up the new iPad 2 window display. Scroll down to the gallery to check them out.

The first two guys in line at the Leawood, KS store talk to Dave Greenbaum about the experience:

An interview sent in by Andy Flochinni with an early line-goer at the Mall of America:

Ryan Kim provides a longer look at the situation outside the NYC 5th Avenue Store:

Here’s a new video from Ryan Kim filmed at the NYC 5th Avenue Apple Store:

Writer Dave Greenbaum stopped by AT&T before heading to check out the line at the Leawood, KS Apple Store:

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iPad 2 Launch Details: How, When and Where to Buy

Charles Jade — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 15:21:58 +0000

Apple has just issued a press release confirming details of the Pad 2 launch for tomorrow. The “next generation of its magical device” will be available at all 236 Apple Retail stores in the U.S. at 5:00 PM local time, as well as at a temporary retail location at SXSW. Apple’s online store will begin sales at 1:00 AM PT.

Those buying at local Apple Stores will have the option of a free Personal Setup service. Introduced last year with the original iPad, Apple Store employees will help iPad 2 buyers set up email, load apps from the App Store, and customize settings. While not as time consuming as iPhone setup, this won’t help shorten lines already lengthened by a lack of pre-orders and the evening launch time. Plan on being at an Apple Store early (lines are already forming at some locations).

If you can’t get to an Apple Store, Best Buy, Target, Walmart/Sam’s Club will also begin selling the iPad 2 at 5:00 PM local time tomorrow, and presumably will have an option for buying online, though online plans have not yet been formally announced for these outlets. Prospective iPad 2 buyers should be aware that historically Apple retail partners have had considerably less stock of new Apple products, so while lines might be smaller, iPads will sell out much quicker.

Those looking for a 3G iPad will have to choose between Verizon and AT&T, both of which will offer the iPad for sale at retail stores tomorrow at 5:00 PM local time. In addition, AT&T will be selling the iPad 2 online, but not Verizon. If you’re still trying to decide on which network, price favors AT&T on data plans at the lower end of the bandwidth cap spectrum, but Verizon offers more data at a better price:

If you haven’t already decided which iPad 2 you want to buy, now is the time to choose, because tomorrow you’ll be too busy trying to find stock to worry about making decisions.

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Mac App Store Launches, Featuring Over 1,000 Apps

Darrell Etherington — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 13:59:24 +0000

The Mac App Store officially launched today as promised, at around 5:30 a.m. Pacific time. Users can gain access to the new OS X software distribution platform by downloading and installing the Mac OS X 10.6.6 update, available either through Software Update or direct from Apple’s website (a combo updater should be available from Apple Support soon).

The new Mac App Store launches with more than 1,000 software titles already in its library, including software from Apple’s own iWork and iLife suites, and from major Mac software vendors like AutoDesk, Omni Group and others. iPhone App Store users will also recognize titles like Flight Control HD and The Incident from the mobile storefront.

Once you’ve installed the Mac OS X 10.6.6 update, the Mac App Store icon should automatically appear in your dock next to the Finder. As with the iOS App Store, you purchase software using your iTunes ID and password, and they are then downloaded and installed automatically. Charts are carried over from the iOS version, too, including Top Paid, Free and Grossing apps for the whole store and for individual categories.

We’ll be featuring ongoing coverage all day. Many early users are reporting problems with downloading apps, probably due to server congestion at Apple, so be patient. Go get it now and let us know what you think.

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Mac App Store Opening Jan. 6

Darrell Etherington — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 14:03:10 +0000

Apple announced Thursday that the Mac App Store will officially launch on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011. The Mac App Store, like its iOS equivalent, will be used to sell and distribute applications, only for OS X instead of for Apple’s portables. The newly-announced date falls well within Steve Jobs’ stated release timeframe of 90 days, which he announced at Apple’s Back to the Mac event in October.

In the press release, Jobs notes that he hopes the Mac App Store will do for OS X software what the App Store did for mobile apps:

The App Store revolutionized mobile apps. We hope to do the same for PC apps with the Mac App Store by making finding and buying PC apps easy and fun. We can’t wait to get started on January 6.

The official announcement goes on to briefly describe how the Mac App Store will work. New and noteworthy apps, staff favorites, category searching and customer reviews and ratings will all make the jump from the iOS version of the software marketplace. Apps can also be downloaded and installed in one click, and once you’ve bought an app, you can download and install it on any other Mac associated with your iTunes store account. Updates for software purchased through the Mac App Store are delivered directly through it, too.

Some things the Mac App Store will be missing from its iOS counterpart include in-app purchases and trial versions of software with limited content or gameplay. It’s unclear whether or not Apple plans to implement any of these things down the road.

When it does arrive, users won’t even have to go to Apple’s site to grab the download, since it’s being pushed out to all Snow Leopard users via Software Update as a free download. Apple clearly doesn’t want to risk anyone missing this boat.

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Report: iPad 2 to Ship in February, Launch in April

Darrell Etherington — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 15:30:51 +0000

A new DigiTimes report says Apple just told Foxconn to begin building a healthy launch day stockpile of the iPad 2 over the course of the next 100 days, with the explicit goal of being ready to ship by February 2011 for an April launch. 400,000 to 600,000 units of the new device are said to be slated for manufacture initially.

According to Foxconn’s sources, Apple originally planned to have the iPad 2 shipped by January 2011, but the device’s firmware isn’t yet ready for a wide release and needs more testing, leading to a postponed release timeline. Though devices are said to be shipping in February, the iPad 2 won’t make its way into consumer hands until April 2011, which is normal for Apple’s supply chain. An April launch would mark a one-year product upgrade cycle for the iPad, which is in keeping with Apple’s schedule for the rest of its iOS devices.

Foxconn reportedly shipped around 6 million iPads in the third quarter of 2010, leaving around 1.8 million surplus units after all channel sales for the fourth quarter according to DigiTimes. Apple will greatly reduce its ordering in January according to the blog’s sources, in order to try to divest itself of its existing iPad inventory before the launch of the iPad 2.

Taiwan-based DigiTimes has a mixed track record when it comes to predicting future products releases, but it does appear to have genuine connections to many of Apple’s suppliers. This particular report seems sound, if for no other reason than that the information it relates isn’t really a surprise to any Apple watchers. It’s basically a textbook breakdown of how Apple approaches the release of a new product iteration. We’ll see an iPad 2 in 2011, that much is certain, and April seems like a safe bet for a specific release window. This new DigiTimes report only serves to reinforce that anticipated timeline.

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iPad to Launch in 9 More Countries

Charles Jade — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:35:46 +0000

Apple has announced that on July 23 the iPad will be available in nine more countries, but more accurately, eight countries and a special administrative zone.

On Friday, the iPad goes on sale in Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong (China), Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore. While not all localities have announced pricing, the 16GB Wi-Fi model will cost 499 € in the new European countries and NZ$799 in New Zealand. If you can find one, that is.

Insatiable demand continues to hamper Apple from getting the “magical” into every pair of hands that wants one. For the U.S. and Europe, the Apple Store online currently shows a shipping delay of seven to ten days for all models. This has been the situation since the U.S. launch of the iPad in April, which ultimately forced the delay of the first international launch to late May for Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

If it seems like a questionable business decision to launch the iPad in yet more countries when demand cannot be currently met, there may be hope for an increased supply. Everyone’s favorite Apple rumormonger in Taiwan, DigiTimes, reported earlier this month that iPad orders to manufacturers “surpassed two million units for July.”

On June 22, Apple announced the iPad had sold some three million units in 80 days, or roughly at the rate of about a million iPads per month. If production has been significantly increased, it seems possible that additional launch countries could be added even before shipping times showed improvement.

Hopefully we’ll find out tomorrow during Apple’s quarterly earnings report and conference call. I expect the company will announce as many as five million iPads sold to date. To put that number in perspective, sales estimates for all Windows Tablet PCs combined in 2010 range from three to five million.

While that’s good news for stockholders, as well as those interested in the success of the platform, for those residing in one of the countries launching on Friday, the advice remains the same. Get up early and get in line or be hitting refresh online at the Apple Store.