Apple’s new iPhone 4S made glitzy and chaotic debuts in three new
Apple’s new iPhone 4S made glitzy and chaotic debuts in three new Asian markets on Friday, with customers and profiteers queuing for up to a week to get their hands on the popular gadget.
Thousands of people thronged Apple’s new harbourside store in the southern Chinese city of Hong Kong as staff cheered and clapped, while midnight launches in South Korea and New Zealand featured celebrities and sports stars.
Top South Korean mobile operator SK Telecom put the iPhone 4S on sale at midnight for 100 enthusiasts who had placed pre-orders, with the country’s most popular actor Wonbin and actress Shin Min-A counting down to the time.
Hip-hop musicians performed at the event at the company’s headquarters.
Korea Telecom laid on comedian Choi Hyo-Jong and offered drinks and a prize quiz to 100 people awaiting its own launch at 8:00am.
Die-hard fans had been keenly awaiting an upgrade to the earlier iPhone 4 long before the 4S was unveiled on October 4.
Regular customer Xu Yaojun came from Xiamen in China with his wife and eight-year-old daughter, who skipped school for the occasion.
He arrived at 10:00am but staff told him there were only enough phones in stock for people who had waited in the queue, which was about 1,500-strong when the store opened its doors.
He said he would have to pay extra to buy an iPhone 4S on the grey market.
Source AFP