iPhone 5 release day live
Live coverage as Apple's iPhone 5 goes on sale around the world.
By Matt Warman Shane Richmond And Lucy Kinder 21 September 2012 • 13:39 pm
Anthony Fitch leaves the Apple store in Paris with his new iPhone 5. Credit: Photo: AP
• Apple begins selling iPhone 5
• Latest version of smartphone is thinner, lighter and faster
• But launch is overshadowed by complaints about Maps
16.57 With the iPhone 5 now on sale throughout the country, it is now time to wrap up the live blog. Hope you enjoyed it and thanks for reading
16.35 Apple are probably rubbing their hands in glee that they aren't in the predicament that Blackberry is. Blackberry's CEO has just issued a statement in repsonse to the problems saying:
"I want to apologize to those BlackBerry customers in Europe and Africa who experienced an impact in their quality of service earlier this morning. The BlackBerry service is now fully restored and I can report that no data or messages were lost. Up to 6 percent of our user base may have been impacted. Preliminary analysis suggests that those customers may have experienced a maximum delay of 3 hours in the delivery and reception of their messages. We are conducting a full technical analysis of this quality of service issue and will report as soon as it concludes. I again want to apologize to those customers who were impacted today."
16.24 We have an actual figure for the number of people who queued outside Apple's store on Fifth Avenue- 775 according to an analyst
16.11 There is still a massive queue outside the Covent Garden Apple store and it has been released for eight hours.
15.50 We are hearing a few reports that the black version of the iPhone 5 may be susceptible to scratching.
15.31 Here's what a Carphone Warehouse spokesperson has said about today:
"This morning we were trading at 6 times the volume of sales that we would expect to see at the height of any Christmas trading period."
15.23 In Australia there is a bit of a storm brewing with some saying that the first people to buy the iPhone weren't actually the first in the queue
15.00 So over in Manchester Police have been called after fights broke out in the queue for the iPhone
14.50 Police are looking for a man in connection with the theft of hundreds of Apple iPhone 5s.
The 252 stolen phones were due to go on sale for the first time today at the O2 store in the Tandem Centre in Wimbledon, south London, as the new iPhone was launched across the UK.
Officers want to speak to Usman Sethi, 23, of Audley Gardens, Ilford, east London, who works as an assistant at the store.
The phones were taken at 1.30am, with a quantity of cash which was also stolen from the shop's safe.
Mr Sethi is described as Asian, 6'1" tall and may be driving a grey Ford Mondeo.
Police also want to speak to Mr Sethi, a Pakistani national, in connection with the theft of jewellery belonging to a family member from his home address in Audley Gardens.
14.30 You can watch a video of the iPhone going on sale in Covent Garden here:
14.13 Over in New York at the Fifth Avenue Apple store there are reports that the queue is far longer than that for the iPhone 4S
14.05 It is pretty extraordinary that Apple can still whip up such mass hysteria. Despite pre-ordering rendering queuing for days all but meaningless, the majority of people I met in the queue had thoroughly enjoyd their experience and the atmosphere. Most would do it again.
13.55 What you can't see from that picture is the man who turned up with a giant megafone yelling "look at these people queuing up for a phone that is exactly the same as their old one." He didn't have the desired affect- everybody just cheered, nothing was going to dent their enthusiasm
13.39 The iPhone 5 has begun going on sale in America now but while we wait for pictures of that, here's another one from Covent Garden this morning:
13.07 What is it about Apple that makes some people so annoyed? Stephen Fry isn't the first to ask and I doubt he will be the last:
<noframe>Twitter: Stephen Fry - If as some suggest Apple hatred is a money thing, why Isn't twitter full of invective against BMWs, Mercs and Porsches? Only in tech sector…</noframe>
12.45 I spoke with a new owner of the iPhone Stephen Mount this morning who said that he had seen a pre released version of the iOS6 software and it had significant flaws- the same type that we are seeing now. He assumed these would be rectified before the public release and was surprised that they hadn't
12.30 If you were in two minds about the merits of Apple's new iOS6 software, don't worry. Wired say it's fine. They obviously don't want to go to Luton, which the maps claim is in Devon...
12.15 If you've got an old iPhone but want to look like you've got a new one, why not pop along to the Apple Store and buy the headphones that Apple is now calling earPods. Here's some more detail about them...
12.00 The other Apple story that's big today - and potentially far bigger than last year's anntennagate saga - is the maps debacle. Here's a picture gallery. As you'll see, a search for Manchester United Football Club takes you to, er, Sale. Maybe Apple's bought the team...
11.55 If you're a fan of the teardown we mentioned earlier, what more could you ask for? The video, of course. And here it is:
11.45 Apple also launched the latest version of iOS this week, including an iPad alarm clock application featuring analogue faces. Schweizerische Bundesbahnen, the federal train operator in Switzerland, claims that these clock faces infringe a copyright design created for the organisation in 1955 by Hans Hilfiker. Check out the details here:
Apple accused of copying Swiss clock design in iOS6
11.35 Teardown experts over at iFixit reckon "Because the iPhone 5 is opened front-to-back, replacing a cracked screen is going to be easier than ever. Thank you, Apple! Compare this to the iPhone 4S, where it took 38 steps to isolate the display assembly, and this iPhone may be the most repairable iPhone we've seen in a while." You can see the comprehensive teardown here.
11.09 The iPhone 5 queue at Bluewater began at 2am, we're told, with 1,000 people lining up outside the Apple store. However, the prize for best queue of the day goes to O2, which opened a pop-up shop on top of the O2, allowing iPhone purchases with a view of the London skyline.
10.51 With all these people buying the iPhone 5, what happens to the old smartphones? They go on eBay, obviously. The online retailer says:
iPhone listings on eBay have increased by 122% in the last month with listings of the iPhone 4 models in particular soaring by a massive 223% as apple fans prepare to get the hands on the latest iPhone edition.
10.43 Here's the scene from Covent Garden earlier:
10.26 Apple's rivals are having some fun with the Maps debacle. Nokia has paid for this promoted tweet:
<noframe>Twitter: Nokia - Nokia Maps is award winning. There is no need to be stuck with another mapping service on your smartphone: <a href="http://t.co/WqyG0Bes" target="_blank">http://t.co/WqyG0Bes</a> <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=Justsayin" target="_blank">#Justsayin</a></noframe>
10.07 A few stats from the Regent Street Apple store queue, courtesy of text message Q&A site 63336:
The iPhone 5 queue is the longest queue in retail history at 1,297, smashing Apple's previous record of 778 for the iPhone 4S
The overwhelming majority of Apple fans (67 per cent) would prefer Google Maps on iOS 6 than Apple's own attempt
Only 33 per cent would move operator to EE to get 4G quicker
37 per cent would opt for the Samsung Galaxy 3 if the iPhone didn't exist
Longest queue in retail history? Not entirely sure about that one but 1,200 people is a lot.
09.34 If you haven't seen it already, Samsung's latest advert continues the company's theme of poking fun at Apple customers:
09.17 While there are queues at the Apple store, it seems pretty easy to get hold of an iPhone elsewhere. Lucy says:
Just spoke to someone who got the iPhone at the 3 store at 8.30 this morning, no queues. He came to the Apple Store to buy a case for it and they didn't have any. No one knew where they were or how he could get one.
09.07 As mentioned earlier, the iPhone 5 has been on sale in some parts of the the world for a few hours already. Australia was the first country to get the new handset and here is Todd Foot, the first customer to buy one:
09.03 It might surprise you to learn that not everyone wants to buy an iPhone 5. See the comments on this article, for example. Here's my colleague Matt Warman explaining why he wouldn't switch from Android:
But the [Samsung Galaxy] S3 lets me send files simply by touching it to another phone; if I look up a contact and pick up the phone to put it to my ear, it knows I want to call that person. Best of all, if I am looking at the phone it (mostly) detects I'm looking at it and keeps the screen on. All of this is clever; Apple has no answers on these fronts.
08.50 Over in Covent Garden, the steady flow of customers continues through the Apple shop. The noise is deafening inside the shop, writes Lucy Kinder.
08.43 You know you've got problems when Transport for London teases you about letting your customers down:
[Thanks to Tony Hedges on Twitter]
08.36 While there will be no shortage of people ready to mock those who choose to queue for the chance to be among the first to own a new phone, the fact that Apple is able to generate this kind of excitement is something that its competitors should envy. Here's Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg:
<noframe>Twitter: Michael Gartenberg - Dear Microsoft. Please look at what's happening at Apple stores all over the world. This kinda needs to happen for Windows 8. <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=justsayin" target="_blank">#justsayin</a></noframe>
08.32 The interesting thing about that Apple statement (see below) is that it came relatively quickly. Two years ago, for example, Apple took days to respond to the 'Antennagate' furore. The speedy response here might be taken as a sign of the change in the company's attitude in the post-Jobs era. The pessimistic interpretation is that Apple knows there is no quick fix for this problem and therefore it's not worth holding their response until they can promise an improvement. There won't be a 'here, have a free Bumper' moment here, I suspect.
08.20 Thanks to the magic of time zones, some people have had an iPhone 5 in their hands for a while. It's already on sale in Hong Kong, for example, where this guy was one of the first in line:
08.10 If you missed the Maps chaos, start here. Overnight, Apple issued a statement. The company said:
Customers around the world are upgrading to iOS 6 with over 200 new features including Apple Maps, our first map service. We are excited to offer this service with innovative new features like Flyover, turn by turn navigation, and Siri integration. We launched this new map service knowing it is a major initiative and that we are just getting started with it. Maps is a cloud-based solution and the more people use it, the better it will get. We appreciate all of the customer feedback and are working hard to make the customer experience even better.
08.07 Just kidding! There's plenty more to talk about. Maps, for starters. Those in the queue are very relaxed about it, says Lucy. "They'll fix it," says one.
08.04 And that's it. Thanks for joining our live blog...
08.00 And the doors are open. The first person to get the new iPhone is Ryan Williams and he's "being mobbed" by staff, Lucy writes. Each new person entering the store gets a Mexican wave from the staff.
07.59 The doors will be open any second. The Apple staff, says Lucy, "are whooping and clapping inside the Apple store waiting for the first person to be let in to get their phone".
07.55 Lucy says that, according to security, there are around 700 people queueing outside the Covent Garden Apple shop, waiting for the doors to open. Inside "they are frantically polishing the glass stairs".
07.50 Good morning and welcome to the iPhone 5 release day liveblog. As always, the release of a new iPhone is expected to draw large crowds, particularly since supplies are expected to be limited.
Announced by Apple last week, the iPhone 5 is thinner and lighter than its predecessor, the iPhone 4S, and it is powered by a processor that is twice as fast. Apple has also improved the camera software for the iPhone 5 and added 4G mobile broadband for the first time. The new design was greeted with overwhelmingly positive reviews.
This year, however, the release has been somewhat overshadowed by complaints about Apple's Maps app in iOS 6, the operating system that powers the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Released this week, iOS 6 is the first version of Apple's operating system to drop Google Maps. Unfortunately, as users all over the world are discovering, the new maps are filled with errors and omissions.
Apple's Maps often display restaurants, shops and bars streets away from their true location and misses sites such as railways stations. London's Paddington Station, for example, is not labelled on the map, while the town of Stratford-Upon-Avon is marked on Apple's maps as Shottery.
Will that put off the people queueing outside Apple's shops this morning? Probably not. Lucy Kinder is at the Covent Garden Apple shop and we'll hear from her shortly.
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