Deja vu as Apple fans queue in the streets once more
Many British gadget fans are likely to be left iPhone 4-less today, despite Apple’s machine going on simultaneous release in the US, UK, France, Germany and Japan.
A stock drought at launch will see only limited availability for early adopters, a situation some of the UK’s mobile phone companies believe to be a ploy to stoke hype, but this hasn’t stopped punters from queuing in their droves.
It is the second major product launch for Apple in as many months following the iPad’s earlier unveiling. Analysts will be keenly scrutinising the sales figures to see if these releases represent the high water mark in Apple’s rise now that laggardly rival producers have finally caught up and even exceeded Apple’s technology.
One articulate proponent of the iPhone4, Stephen Fry, was particularly effusive: “With this device in my hand, I feel that I am holding its designer Jonathan Ive’s personal prototype, hand-machined as a proof of concept model. Ive is surely one of the most gifted designers Britain has produced and the iPhone 4 may well be his masterpiece.”