$1,000 price fails to deter Apple iPhone X fans in long lines

Bloomberg

The $1,000 price tag on Apple Inc.’s new iPhone X didn’t deter throngs of enthusiasts around the world who waited—sometimes overnight—in long lines with no guarantee they would walk out of the store with one of the coveted devices.
At Apple’s flagship Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan, the line coiled up and down several times along 58th Street and extended across Madison and over towards Park Avenue. Apple was only letting in 10 customers at a time, so people were likely due for an even longer wait. Luckily, the weather in New York City was unseasonably warm and sunny.
Jun Yu Lin, 19, a student, arrived at the line at 8 am, just as the store was opening. He joined the queue about a block-and-a-half away and after one hour had barely budged. “I feel anxiety right now,” he said. “I’m not sure if they’re going to have
the supply.”
Similar scenes played out across the world on Friday, recalling the throngs that formed on the first day of iPhone sales on June 29, 2007. While pre-orders last week sold out quickly, and pushed delivery out into December, Apple said it has added more production capacity and that those six-week waiting times would be reduced.
“Lines counts exceeded our expectations by more than 2x, signalling strong demand for the iPhone X,” said Gene Munster, co-founder of Loup Ventures who has measured lines outside Apple stores on iPhone launch days for years.
With buoyant demand for the new handset, Apple is projecting record revenue of $84 billion to $87 billion during the holiday quarter, easing concerns among investors that production problems would undercut sales.
In New York, at least two Chinese-speaking Apple employees were deployed to help manage the huge line, which had many visitors from China and elsewhere. Videos and photos published on Twitter showed security guards sectioning off those waiting in line outside Apple’s Orchard Road store in Singapore. In Sydney, fans set up lawn chairs while others sold their spots in line just hours before the phone was scheduled to go on sale in the region. Lines outside Tokyo’s Ginza Apple Store snaked down more than two blocks. In London, Apple employees cheered as the first customers exited the store after buying the new handset.
Apple is known for creating hype around each new iPhone launch. But in recent years, online pre-orders and other buying options reduced store lines. This year, Apple has marketed the iPhone X heavily, and new features like facial recognition and the edge-to-edge screen are stoking demand. Concern about limited initial supplies of the phone may also have drawn shoppers to Apple stores on launch day. In an announcement last month, Apple encouraged those without reservations to “arrive early,” an indication of its anticipated crowds. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said that demand for the iPhone X was “very, very strong,” without being specific.
Apple stopped reporting opening weekend iPhone sales with the iPhone 7, citing demand that far outstripped supply. However, the company hasn’t indicated if it will follow that trend with the iPhone X (it didn’t report opening weekend numbers for the iPhone 8). Stores will likely sell out of the iPhone X quickly, in part because of pent-up demand.

Some users face trouble activating devices
Bloomberg

Some iPhone X customers said they couldn’t activate their new devices, a hiccup for Apple Inc.’s most important product launch in years.
One of the first steps in the activation process requires connecting the phone to customers’ chosen wireless carrier. Those connections didn’t work for some people, essentially making their devices unusable, according to multiple complaints on Twitter. “Your iPhone could not be activated because the activation server is temporarily unavailable,” a message displayed on those phones read. “Try connecting your iPhone to iTunes to activate it, or try again in a couple of minutes.”
Apple didn’t respond to a request for comment. Verizon Communications Inc. said models it sold direct to customers didn’t have problems. “Some of our customers experienced a delay activating their iPhone X,” Eric Ryan, an AT&T Inc. spokesman, said. The issue was resolved. The glitches popped up on a banner day for Apple, with huge lines outside stores around the world as consumers rushed to buy the phone.