I’ve just stumbled across this interesting post at idiottoys.com. It shows the truth about the queues and hype surrounding the iPhone here in the UK on launch day. This post, plus my own personal iPhone experience and these additional pics, seem to suggest that Brits aren’t prepared to pay for the iPhone in great numbers. There were no huge queues, and those standing outside arrived a few minutes before the 6.02 launch and had to wait simply because the doors were shut.
Whilst you can’t deny the “wow factor” of the phone, I personally saw someone walk out of a store after seeing the £269 price tag – especially with Christmas just around the corner. Here in Britain we expect to get contract phones free, and we’ll probably only pay up to around £99 for a really advanced one.
Links – Nobody queues for iPhone – My blog post
The truth behind those iPhone queues
November 13, 2007