Crowds flock to purchase new iPhones
Eager - and sometimes angry - buyers stood in line for hours Friday morning to be among the first to acquire Apple Inc.'s new third-generation iPhone.
At the AT&T store at 17W504 22nd Street in Oak Brook, most of the shop's inventory of the popular wireless connecting cell phone was gone by 10:30 a.m., according to Todd Flack, AT&T's director of sales.
"We had about nine people stay (outside) overnight, and when I got here this morning at 5:30 there were 35 people in line," he said.
Others remained in line this morning knowing they would only be able to order phones that should arrive in seven to 10 days.
Flack was not allowed to disclose how many phones the store was stocked with. The model, which is an upgrade of the phones that debuted last year, was available at 8 a.m.
Among those hoping to buy one was Susan Caputo of Lombard. Caputo said she wasn't prepared for the outdoor wait of up to two hours but said the risk of awkward tan lines was worth it.
"I probably should have thought more about being outside, but I really want this phone," she said. "The touch-screen is so much better than any of the others, plus my other iPhone is frozen right now, so I need a new one," she said.
Things were not going so smoothly at the Apple store in Oakbrook Center, where a nightmare scenario was developing with only three or four phones being sold in more than three hours after the shop opened at 8 a.m.
The droves of people in line were told a system failure was holding up processing; store employees were not allowed to comment.
The restless and increasingly hostile crowd was losing patience by 11 a.m., though workers said the technical kinks had been worked out by 2:45 p.m. and the line was moving.
"I bought my last four cars faster than this," said Willow Springs resident Carlos Franco, who had been outside the mall store for more than five hours. "You just expect better from Apple. I'll try and stick it out, but my wife will only be so patient."
Berwyn resident Jose Cárdenas had been at the front of the line since dawn.
"This is a joke," he said. "It's ridiculous. It's bad for us, but imagine the people at the back of the line."
The day was marred by connectivity problems globally. Flack said the initial plan to activate all the new phones in-store was thwarted by server problems on Apple's end. Most AT&T and Apple stores sent iPhone owners home with directions on how to finish the activation process on their own.
"We actually had a customer come back and we were able to finish it in store, so the problem may be intermittent," he said.
The long lines and technical woes weren't an issue for Hawthorn Woods resident Chris Papaioannou, who bought two new iPhones at the Apple store in the Deer Park Town Center after waiting in line for six hours.
"This phone will make my life a lot easier, so the wait was worth it," he said.
The iPhone is selling for $199 for the 8-gigabyte model and $299 for the 16-gigabyte version. After selling an estimated 6 million iPhones since last year, Apple hopes to sell 10 million by year's end.
Judaline Nelson of Downers Grove was outside the AT&T store in Oak Brook and said this was her first iPhone. She was buying the $299 version but not getting the color she wanted.
"I wanted the black one, but I'll take the white," she said. "I'm going to put all my music on it and that's a mixture of everything, believe me."
The two-hour wait wasn't so bad for Adam Styrula of Hickory Hills.
"I waited in line for about four hours for a concert in Rosemont once," he said. "I don't remember which band it was, though."
Daily Herald Staff Writer Sue TerMaat contributed to this report.