Lining up for Launch Day--How early do you arrive?

chrisforpm

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It's FUN!!! It's a social event more than just pick up the phone. I've only done it once but when I did it, it was tons of fun.
The Apple Store clerks gave us water and donuts and came around to talk to us.



Sent from my GORGEOUS, SEXY, AWESOME Gold 128G iPhone 6 while I wait for my NEW AWESOME GORGEOUS SEXY 128GB iPhone 6s Plus in Rose Gold

I agree! It's a social event. I have done it twice, for the iPhone 5 and iPad 3. The iPhone launch was definitely busier and I met a lot of interesting people. Appreciating Apple products was the one commonality that we as strangers all shared.

As far as standing in line, it's really no different then waiting in line for concert tickets to your favourite band. I'm pretty sure that there are a few of us that did that back in the 80s and 90s.


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Rob Phillips

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I'm already in line.

Kidding! I have an appointment but I'm planning on showing up a half hour before.
 

southjersey786

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Only half hour! I was thinking, I should go at least an hour early, I have two reservations, first at 8am (to flip locally) :) and an 8.30am for my apple upgrade appointment

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pantlesspenguin

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Welp, I'm now having my phone held for pickup at the UPS facility. If it's available to pick up at 8:30 when it opens, I could totally see a line of people who are all there to pick up their phones, so I might be encountering a line anyway that day :).
 
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Flow39

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I lined up last year at 6:00 PM Thursday at my local Store Store, which put me at 64th. I shouldn't have been that far back, but there were tons of scalpers. I did get the phone I wanted though. I'd say hey there no later than 9 PM.
 

alex.shimp

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I stopped by my Apple Store today to make sure I had everything I needed for my reservation tomorrow, and to see how they were doing the line up.

First there were already four guys with lawn chair waiting to line up. But they are going to have two lines like last year one for walk ins and one for reservations.

Since mines 8-8:30 I'm gonna head over about 6:00am for my reservation
 

Spencerdl

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My Verizon store opens @8AM, I plan on being in line at approx 4AM. It's suppose to start raining around 7PM tonight and last until 12PM on Friday the 25th. I'm hoping the rain will deter some potential buyers, but I doubt it.
 

tigerinexile

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Lines are fun. I did it for the 5s. Got to the mall way out in the suburbs at 5:15 AM.

For the 6, I did the reserve for pick-up a few days in (5-6?), could have gotten it on the Saturday (i.e. day 2) as a walk-in but chose not to. (I was conflicted about upgrading.)

It really depends on the city.


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sunnysideup22125

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I'm thinking I should head over around 3 am to line up. I haven't lined up for an iPhone in awhile but I used to have fun.

I'm also thinking of doing a drive by in a little just too see if the line is already long or not.
 

HankAZ

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I'm thinking I should head over around 3 am to line up. So annoyed I didn't pre-order but whatever

My first thought was that you might already be too late... but it will vary by location, and Apple had a crapload of devices available for pre-order, so the in-store demand may be less this year. Of course, I could be way off, too. :D
 

anon(39328)

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I have bought iphones on launch day 3 times. Each time was a few hours after Verizon store opened. Longest line was 4 people, and 2 of those people did not buy an iPhone. One of the perks to living in BFE, I guess. Question for those of you in bigger cities planning to line up for God knows how many hours... Have you ever thought about driving two or three short hours to the nearest smaller city (25-75k pop) to buy your new iPhone? It might save you a bit of time and sanity.

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Spencerdl

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My first thought was that you might already be too late... but it will vary by location, and Apple had a crapload of devices available for pre-order, so the in-store demand may be less this year. Of course, I could be way off, too. :D

I sure hope so. I'm hoping Apple has a "crapload" of devices for in-store sale this year as well. FINGERS CROSSED
 

sunnysideup22125

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My first thought was that you might already be too late... but it will vary by location, and Apple had a crapload of devices available for pre-order, so the in-store demand may be less this year. Of course, I could be way off, too. :D

I'm trying to be optimistic cuz I thought the same thing. But I live in northern va and we have 7  stores all within 30 minutes of each other.
 

sunnysideup22125

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I'm trying to be optimistic cuz I thought the same thing. But I live in northern va and we have 7  stores all within 30 minutes of each other.

Ok so my closest  store has less than 20 people in line...I think I'm gonna just get in line now. Do you think I'll be able to get a 128 6+ rose gold or am I being unrealistic?
 

HankAZ

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Ok so my closest  store has less than 20 people in line...I think I'm gonna just get in line now. Do you think I'll be able to get a 128 6+ rose gold or am I being unrealistic?

Obviously, it's going to depend on what kind of stock they have...but you gotta like your odds. Good luck!
 

sunnysideup22125

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Probably ok, I think, at least hopefully. Last year there was a big shortage of the 6+ but maybe Apple got the ratios of models better this year. But the rose gold is definitely the wildcard. This year should be better than last because the launch date is the same in China as the US. So fewer scalpers should be in line.
Anyway, good luck? What store are you going to wait at?

I'm at Potomac Town Center in Woodbridge. There is also an att store around the corner but I thought if the rose gold is hard to get then I'd have a better shot at the  store :/

I don't know...I feel mildly ridiculous.

The other thing I'm noticing is that people seem to holding spots for friends like someone just asked me to move cuz they had 4 more friends coming :/
 

sunnysideup22125

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I thought about going up to Potomac Town Center to continue my tradition of waiting in line. It's my closest Apple Store now but still 45 minutes away. When I've waited in line at Tyson's Corner (they let you in the mall except for 1 year), mall security strictly enforced the no holding spots for other people. I guess that's too difficult for an outdoor mall. I'd be really upset about people cutting in line.

Yeah there is no security here just one lone police officer and he's sitting in his car.

It could be because it's late but this line is no fun. When I used to wait in line I'd have nice chit chats with people. Not so much this time.

I can see them changing the displays in the store though :)
 

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