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Long lines at Apple stores for iPhone 6(UPI International Top News Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) The iPhone6 and the 6 Plus, new larger-screen smartphone from Apple Inc., went on sale Friday across the globe, attracting long lines of customers eager to be the world's first owners. A 10-block long line stretched up 5th Avenue in New York to the Apple Store, and those in line cheered continuously for 15 minutes before the doors opened. "I can watch my Netflix, my YouTube," customer Carlos Jimenez, 24, said. "Even though I know you could get bucks for it, I'm a die-hard Apple fan." Hundreds of people stood in line in Paris, Sydney, Tokyo and Hong Kong as well, and over 1,000 stood in the rain waiting to get their hands on the device in London. "When I came here, I thought there would be about 500 people," said Xin Liu, 25, while in line in Sydney, "but someone counted and there were already 800. I was really surprised." The iPhone 6 has the look and feel of Apple's iPhone 3 model, with more aluminum and glass and a less angular design than the iPhone 4 or 5. The rollout is crucial to Apple's fortune in a crowded field of competitors. Handheld mobile devices account for about half of the company's $171 billion in revenue and its technology can be found in other products. "The most important aspect of first weekend iPhone sales are the long lines and the 'record breaking' sales numbers that generate the free press for the company," said BTIG LLC analyst Walter Piecyk in a note to investors Thursday. Copyright 2014 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent. |