Hundreds Lined Up Outside of the Apple Store to Snag the iPhone 6
An MIT Student holds up her new iPhone 6/Photo by Steve Annear
On Friday morning, tech hungry Bostonians eager to get their hands on the latest iPhone releases stood in a line that started at the front entrance of the Apple Store on Boylston Street, and stretched all the way around the block, spilling onto Fairfield Street, some hugging blankets around their shoulders, while others moved in place, shaking off the September cold after spending a long night on the sidewalk.
“It’s worth it,” said Ivan Valdez, who arrived at the Apple Store at 8 p.m. on Thursday night. “Some people told me to just wait a few months for the hype to go down, but I said, ‘I’d rather wait 12 hours.’ But it was freezing cold.”
Valdez, who didn’t sleep much and had to call his girlfriend to bring him an extra blanket and sweater, said when he showed up to claim his spot along Boylston Street, there were only 150 people ahead of him in line.
By early Friday morning, however, that same line was two people deep, and nearly extended to Newbury Street, as hundreds of iPhone fans waited patiently for a chance to purchase the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
Corey Johnson said he only slept for half an hour, and spent most of the night chatting with others who decided to bear the cold weather just to be amongst the first people to use the new device in Boston.
“I’ve been here for over 12 hours,” said Johnson as he inched forward, getting a few steps closer to the store’s entrance. “It was cold. I mostly ate.”
Boston resident Rajive Keshup had a different experience, and was able to get his new iPhone 6 in his grips with relative ease. A week ago, when Apple announced the impending release of the new iPhones, Keshup was quick to pre-order his device, and merely showed up on site at 6:30 a.m. Friday and joined a separate, shorter line for others like him.
“The pre-order line was only 10 people long,” he said. “I skipped the overnight. If I had to [wait in the line] around the block, I probably would have just waited a couple of weeks to order one. I’m not with the crazies.”
MIT Freshman Jennifer Li was also part of the pre-order gang, but decided she wanted to see what a night out waiting with other iPhone fans was like, so she willingly joined several friends who camped out on the sidewalk at 1 a.m. Friday morning.
“I came with them for the experience,” she said, holding up her new iPhone 6, after showing it to her classmates who were still waiting in the overnight queue. “It’s not that big of a deal for me, but it was still fun. Especially being at the front of the line, you see all of the employees jumping up and down and getting really excited. And they were all super friendly.”
