The global roll-out of Apple’s revamped iPhone kicked off on Friday in Asia with countdown celebrations and quick sell-outs as crowds of gadget fans streamed into stores after long waits.
The target of desire was Apple’s much-hyped 3G, or third-generation, wireless-connecting cellphone — an upgrade of the model that went on sale last year in the United States and several other nations.
Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Japan were the Asia-Pacific locations getting the new phone, with festivities shifting to Europe as the global day and 22-nation launch progresses. In the US, phones were to be available at 8am in each time zone.
The South African launch date for the iPhone has not yet been set.
”Just look at this obviously innovative design,” said Yuki Kurita, emerging from a Tokyo store with the brand new 3G iPhone he barely knew how to use.
The 23-year-old system engineer, among about 1 500 people who had camped out on the street by one downtown store, said he was too excited to feel tired and called his mother to boast about his new buy.
”I am so thrilled just thinking about how I get to touch this,” he said, carrying bags of clothing and a skateboard he had used as a chair during his wait.
Kurita acknowledged, though, that the iPhone would replace only one of his two phones. He and other Japanese buyers said they wanted to check out how services such as email worked before they decide to forsake their old phones.
The iPhone’s capabilities are less revolutionary in Japan, where people have for years used tech-heavy phones from domestic makers such as Sharp and Matsushita to exchange email, search for restaurants, download video and play games.
But networks prevalent up to now offer only limited access to the web, and the iPhone is designed to browse the web in much the same way computers do. Its arrival marks a significant foreign entry in a market dominated by local brands.
Japanese media, including the Nikkei, the nation’s top business daily, are talking about ”iPhone shock”, alluding to Commodore Matthew Perry’s black ships that forced an isolationist feudal Japan to open to Western influence in the mid-1800s.
The frenzy over the iPhone was visible elsewhere in Asia as well.
In Hong Kong, designer Ho Kak-yin (31), wearing a T-shirt that said ”Jealous?”, was the first in line in a queue of about 100 inside a Hong Kong shopping mall. ”I’m very excited. It’s very amazing,” Ho said, after lining up two hours ahead of the kick-off.
Hundreds queued outside stores in New Zealand’s main cities got their iPhones earlier at midnight on Thursday.
”Steve Jobs knows what people want,” web developer Lucinda McCullough told the Christchurch Press newspaper, referring to Apple’s head. ”And I need a new phone.”
Exactly how many iPhones will be available has been uncertain, fuelling the hype about the Apple gadget with a cool-factor reputation.
”This is the year that the cellphone becomes an internet-connecting machine,” Masayoshi Son, president of Softbank, the only carrier selling the iPhone in Japan, said at the countdown ceremony. ”Today is that day that will make it real, and it’s a historic day.”
Softbank said it sold out of iPhones at three major Tokyo stores before they opened. It has refused to say how many iPhones are being sold and said it didn’t have a nationwide store tally.
Tomohiko Katsu (38), a Japanese banker, said he has rarely lined up for any product in his life but wanted to make sure he got the iPhone and got in line on Thursday afternoon. ”All the features come packed in a compact machine,” he said. ”It’s really small for a mobile PC device.”
A report this week by Mizuho Securities said the iPhone had potential to change lifestyles and bring new business opportunities.
Japanese tend to spend an hour or more on daily train commutes, and the iPhone could get them net surfing more than reading or listening to music, it said.
The iPhone’s arrival could also change the relationship between manufacturers and carriers because of Apple’s clout. Up to now, carriers have had considerable leverage over manufacturers, the report said.
In Hong Kong, Apple and its local service provider, Hutchison Telecom, have limited initial sales to 1 500 people who have been long-time customers or were preselected by an online lottery. Still, those picking up the gizmo were welcomed with a roll-out event at a mall.
Simon Evans (39), a chef in Hong Kong, was convinced his new iPhone would simplify his life.
”I can use email, the calendar. It will help plan my day,” he said. ”A lot of my friends are very jealous. They want an iPhone, but I have one now.” — Sapa-AP