back to article Who queues for an iPhone 5? Protesters, hipsters and the jobless

The iPhone 5 doesn't go on sale until 8am on Friday, 21 September - yet lines of fanbois, socio-averse hipsters, campaigners and self-promoting twits awaiting the new mobe are already clogging the pavements outside Apple Stores. Yesterday on the steps of London's flagship Regent Street pomaceous-product outlet, punters …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    iMuppets

    Says it all really!

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: iMuppets

      Did you even READ the article?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: iMuppets

        "Did you even READ the article?"

        Yes, and they are muppets. Half the people in the front of the que are making a documentary about people who que - what a wonderful piece of cinema that will turn out to be.

        No doubt on launch day you will be able to walk into your nearest Apple store an purchase the new Jesus phone without hassle.

      2. Ted Treen
        Meh

        Re: iMuppets @JDX

        Can't really blame him or her for not doing so.

        I haven't - because once I see the by-line "Anna Leach", I tend to look for other items which might at least have intelligent comment and rational discourse.

    2. Shagbag

      SAD

      Who would waste their time queuing for something that, in the grand scheme of things, is an irrelevance?

      Looking at them makes me sad.

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Re: SAD

        There always used to be news stories about people queuing for the News Years sales on boxing day... and one friend of mine had to queue eight hours for a cash machine at the Glastonbury festival and declared it great fun- helped in no small part by a bottle of whisky that was being being passed around, and the by general camaraderie.

        It's not my idea of fun, but seems, as an activity, fairly similar to fishing; just sitting in a camp chair waiting for something.

        It's not a new phenomenon, and its not limited to fans of Apple.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Thumb Up

        Re: SAD

        It should make you happy.

        Happy that you know how sad this is. They clearly don't have this ability.

      3. icetrout

        Re: SAD

        Not as sad as the poor Chinese ... Apple = Greed beyond need... How many more billions do these scumbags need? 1 billion = 1000 million... trillion = 1000 billion where will it stop ? France might have a guillotine or two gathering dust...

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: iMuppets

      You are living proof that commentards don't read the articles. Well done on being first.

      re: SAD

      The irony that you all miss of course is that you all waste your lives *arguing* about this and whose gadgety gadget has the bestest and most biggest gadget power numbers online. Think about that for moment. It's pathetic really.

      1. Kay Burley ate my hamster
        Stop

        Re: iMuppets

        Fucking hell, we are all here though aren't we.

        Personally my reasons are that I wanted to read some comments against Apple, the company. The company that claims to have invented rounded corners, the company who take a 30% slice of apps sales, the company who still have that fugly striped background on their phones that OS9 used. The company who claimed Google had stolen their business by moving into the phone market.

        The company who go to court rather than release a significantly better product.

        1. Joe Drunk
          Trollface

          Re: iMuppets

          In my late teens and early twenties we would wait in line overnight to get good seats for concert tickets (before ticketmaster monopoly) so this is probably not too different.

          I guess that's a sign of getting old, there's nothing currently that I would be willing to wait in line for..other than waiting in line at motor vehicle services to renew my driver's license.

          1. Mark .

            Re: iMuppets

            It's pretty sad that it's the older generation who'd queue up for festivals and gigs, and the younger generation queuing up to buy a mobile phone from a big company.

            "The first generation less rebellious than their parents".

          2. JEDIDIAH
            Linux

            Re: iMuppets

            I think my all time queue record is 4 hours for Phantom Menace tickets and that was strictly on a whim and at the spur of the moment. I think Apple encourages this kind of silliness. It's more of that free advertising from the news media.

            OTOH, that venue where I queued for TPM simply would never have tolerated a bunch of riffraff loitering for days and days on end.

      2. JEDIDIAH
        Linux

        Re: iMuppets

        I can be here and gone in 5 minutes.

        I don't waste days and days and days at a time on this stuff.

        ...and they say math education is bad on my side of the pond.

        1. Tom 7

          Re: iMuppets

          dont know about the maths but your english is shit.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: your english is shit

            That should of course read "your English is shit."

      3. David 138
        Flame

        Re: iMuppets

        Did you read it?

        Anyway like the iPhone 4S if you want one you can buy one just after the queue went down. about 10am.

        I wonder what result you would get if you asked who was on benefits in the same queue? Or the equivalent "Film Maker" I think the first thing these people need to do with their iphone is download a few Job Apps.

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: iMuppets

        The 22 Downvotes kinda prove the point. Saddos the lot of you...

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      MUMMY'S ALLOWANCE

      They don't work they get an allowance from their mummy.

      Blame the parenting, these poor little things have been put into day care all their lives and the parents feel so guilty they think they can buy their little darlings affection.

      1. Gary Riches

        Re: MUMMY'S ALLOWANCE

        When I queued there were 4 other contractors who all earned about 90k a year. Hardly an allowance from mother.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: MUMMY'S ALLOWANCE

          Contractors? The allowance came from the tax man then. Presumably the Mummys paid VAT and proper tax on their earnings before buying the phone.

        2. jason 7
          Facepalm

          Re: MUMMY'S ALLOWANCE

          So which company was losing £1000 a day having you queuing on their dime?

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: iMuppets

      I dunno, hijacking a bloody stupid thing like this to promote a worthwhile cause like a local community project seems like a really good use of time to me. A lot better than simply sitting at home in front of a keyboard moaning on some tech forum about what other people choose to do with their short and precious time on this planet!

  2. Gary Riches

    There is a good sense of camaraderie in the lines. Everyone looks out for everyone else... except the pissed Russians that just threaten to kill everyone.

    I've queued out twice to promote apps I've made and I'm not going to lie, the experience was brilliant.

    1. Mike Judge
      Thumb Up

      Someone want to play this to them?

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nf5-Prx19ZM

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      There may be some camaraderie in these Apple queues but I'd say it's more a reflection on how little excitement you have in the rest of your life that you would describe it as brilliant experience.

      You're spending 3 days camping in the cold for an expensive phone you could have just ordered online. Hell there isn't even any beer or live music.

      1. Gary Riches

        I'm happily married, have an awesome daughter, a nice house and a fast car. That's excitement enough for me. There is beer, there's good food... There's all sorts.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          But still, apparently, a gaping rounded-cornered oblong hole in your soul :P

      2. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

        There may be some camaraderie in these Apple queues but I'd say it's more a reflection on how little excitement you have in the rest of your life that you would describe it as brilliant experience.

        I have no interest in iPhones or queuing for things, but I'd say comments like this mostly demonstrate how little some posters understand that people differ. Enjoying the queuing experience is not pathological, an indication of some personal failing, evidence of a dull existence, or a sign of weak-willed consumer subjectivity - as much as many of you might wish otherwise.[1] People can extract psychological and social rewards from many experiences that not materially profitable and don't fit your personal definition of "fulfilling".

        Now, if someone would care to offer a robust, intelligent, sophisticated position on why queuing for iPhones is personally or socially destructive, ethically suspect, morally perfidious, etc, we might have grounds for serious debate. As it is, most of the comments like the one above simply suggest that the author is a narrow-minded ass.

        [1] Many of these sorts of comments are more than a little reminiscent of the sort of naive-Marxist "prole-bashing" that was popular in certain under-informed critical circles a few decades back. It suggests a lack of critical thought, among other things.

  3. JDX Gold badge

    Waiting for

    someone to make a joke about how Apple Fanbois and Carers...

    1. Steve Evans

      Re: Waiting for

      Joke?

      I thought it was a proven fact that 50% of Apple queues are made up of carers?

    2. Andrew Moore

      Re: Waiting for

      I kept thinking about Lou and Andy from Little Britian. I can see Andy (I mean Ali) coming out of the Apple store on Friday and chucking the iPhone5 in a bin, saying 'I don't like it.'

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Waiting for

        he'd be sued, first by Apple, then by the disabled, then by the charities, then by the rest of the usual suspects, i.e. everybody else who'd think this is an outrageous joke in extremely poor taste.

        Hey, why don't we think up something else, like this bearded bloke nobody dares blaspheming about, cause they'd loose their head and testicles... At least we'd get the fireworks in central London by Christmas.

        nah, this would be inciting (racial / religious / cultural) hatred... Is it the sound of a 1 mln suicide cabs approaching, or are they just pleased t

        1. Steve Evans

          Re: Waiting for

          Oooh, idea...

          Did you hear they've just found some old bit of paper which mentions Jesus having a wife?

          Well I'm deeply offended by the blasphemy, and was looking for a completely unrelated location in which to stage a violent protest.

          I think I've just hit two birds with one stone!

          1. Dave 126 Silver badge

            Re: Waiting for

            >Did you hear they've just found some old bit of paper which mentions Jesus having a wife?

            Been done. It was mentioned in The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, which was mentioned by Umberto Echo in the excellent Foucalt's Pendulum and ripped off wholesale by Dan Brown inThe Da Vinci Code, leading to a lawsuit.

            Since it would have been unusual for a Jewish man in JC's time not to be married, it is strange that it is not remarked upon in the NT, was the argument. That, and who was it getting married at Canaan? I know many women who would consider a man capable of turning water into wine prime marriage material!

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Queueing 4 Vulnerable Women.....

    How long did he have to wait before he got one?

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why queue?

    If you've got nothing better to do why not? A communal activity where people get to talk to other people about stuff.

    Personally I prefer the pub, but each to their own!

    1. TRT Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      +1

      It keeps them off the streets at least.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: +1

        @TRT hahahaha, thank you, you owe me a new laptop

    2. Christian Berger

      Just queue without the intention of buying anything. And maybe even trying to talk people out of buying an iPhone. :)

  6. Ross K Silver badge
    Gimp

    Says it all really:

    a very keen Apple enthusiast and his carer

    Yup.

    I'll just leave this here:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKFEZDbJvwk

    "! could never get a Samsung. I'm creative."

    "Dude, you're a barista"

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Facepalm

      Re: Says it all really:

      No no its the reply "People don't queue like this for Samsung or Sony," he said."

      Can I answer... please please??

  7. Thomas 4

    I love gadget queues!

    I sell them teas and coffees and then charge them 5 quid to use the portaloo when the laxatives take effect.

    1. Lord Voldemortgage

      Business plan

      You should give the tea and coffee out free.

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Business plan

        They are in a queue for a tech gadget - free is equivalent to not worth having and unaffordable is equivalent to the best thing ever....

        Personally, I would bump up the price of the tea and coffee and cut costs on the toilet facilities (not what I charge...) to increase my profit margins, but then I might just be a b*st*rd...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Business plan

          Adopt the Ryanair portakloo model, and put the toilet paper in a vending machine, 50p/sheet.

          There's probably a market for an app that shows where the nearest other portaloo is (run by your mates, of course). iPoo ?

          1. Mark .

            Re: Business plan

            Nah, just ship it without the toilet paper. If it's not there, they'll happily believe that no one really *needs* it. That can come in the next model, and you can be sure they'll be queuing up to get it.

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Business plan

            There would be a market for high-rez YouTube vids of people racing each other for strategically placed, distant, porta-potties, some of which has a malfunctioning coin acceptance mechanism for added grief.

        2. Lord Voldemortgage

          Re: Business plan

          They are in a queue for a tech gadget - free is equivalent to not worth having and unaffordable is equivalent to the best thing ever...

          Did you read the list of who was there? Lots of people who might have more sense than money.

          The unemployed guy is not going to shell out for a cuppa but would probably want to avoid soiling himself.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Coffee/keyboard

      Re: I love gadget queues!

      keyboard please - and a screen wipe...

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      Re: I love gadget queues!

      Nice one - and give them music as well. Preferably symbols at roughly 1am every morning. Or even better, Symbols playing through a Galaxy S3.

      1. Martin Budden Silver badge
        Headmaster

        Re: I love gadget queues!

        Have a symbol of a cymbal:

        http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/169/169,1210802663,6/stock-vector-cymbal-12601177.jpg

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: I love gadget queues!

          Dammit - caught out :)

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I love gadget queues!

      I was more thinking of fully-auto paintballing :P

    5. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: I love gadget queues!

      >I sell them teas and coffees and then charge them 5 quid to use the portaloo when the laxatives take effect.

      That might backfire:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3mCTyZK59Y

  8. Piro Silver badge

    "People don't queue like this for Samsung or Sony"

    Good thing too, because that's absolutely stupid, pissing away your time waiting in line to buy a gadget. I can almost understand waiting in line for games, maybe some totally spectacular device, but this is an incremental upgrade to the 4S in many ways.

    So maybe what they're saying is, that people who use other types of devices have better things to do with their time than wait around in the street?

    1. Eddy Ito

      Re: "People don't queue like this for Samsung or Sony"

      Oddly they mostly only queue at the Apple stores. The local RadioShack, AT&T and Verizon shops will all also be selling them but there aren't queues at those places. Clearly it isn't about "being first" but more like an odd act of narcissism in the hope that they can bask in the glow of Appleshine. Are there going to be queues at the malls? Maybe some but mostly I don't think so.

      Props to Zohaib Ali on becoming a regular on El Reg and while I'm happy for him that he enjoys the experience, I don't understand it and have to chalk it up to having more dollars than sense.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "People don't queue like this for Samsung or Sony"

      I can tell you this, there are no volunteers to queue like that anymore just for a phone handset in the ex-Warsaw Pact countries :P

  9. Gil Grissum
    Pint

    Attention whores

    And so we now know that most of the queruers aren't waiting in line three days in advance out of enthusiasm for the product, but for publicity. After the tenth queruer, The enthusiasts appear, and they aren't nearly as interested in getting media attention. Sad lot, really. I tend to go in on the afternoon of launch day, like last year for the iPhone 4S, and there was no line outside my local Apple store then.

  10. Mark 65

    Good luck to them but I wouldn't do it. I've been an early adopter at one point - bought a top of the range DVD player in 96 when they came out and it's still going strong today (when Sony made good stuff) - but certainly wouldn't do it with phones where there have been early days problems in the past. I've seen one preview report that states the screen has a slight yellow tinge in the whites - is that a result of the contrast and vividness tweaks on the screen or is it an issue? I think I'll wait and see.

  11. Gashead

    Power Source?

    Being technology nuts what do these guys do for power? Does somebody from the Apple Store run out an extension cable for them or do they simply have to switch off their igadgets?

    1. Stoneshop

      Re: Power Source?

      I once queued overnight for a Hifi shop sale, together with two friends. The shop was fine with us running an extension cord under the door at closing time, so that we could use our coffee machine. The fact that the water canister we had taken with us had frozen was a little showstopper there, but a friendly neighbour helped us out.

    2. stucs201

      Re: Power Source?

      You'd think a few days away from a power supply would make them realise the benefits of being able to swap in a spare battery.

    3. hplasm
      Gimp

      Re: Power Source?

      The Apple Store provides a free bag of Unicorn Farts.

  12. Dave 126 Silver badge

    The Thick of It is back on TV... when the chai-drinking new-media Tory spin doctor Stewart receives bad news about his standing with the PM, he looks shaken and walks out. One of the other characters remarks:

    "I've never seen him lost for poly-syllables before. He took a morning off when when Steve Jobs died, but otherwise it's been seven years of ear-piss"

    1. Ross K Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Re: Ear-piss

      ear-piss -> describes the iphone perfectly.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I presume my fkng taxes are paying for the overtime claim from the 'carer'?

    I'm not entirely sure autism is that kid's only issue.

  14. Platelet
    Coat

    open a bakery for retraining vulnerable women.

    Because once they know how to bake they're less likely to get?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Don't need to know how to bake

      to make a goddamn sammich. (Yes, I know I'm going to be flamed extra crispy.)

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: open a bakery for retraining vulnerable women.

      No-one has made a "bun in the oven" joke yet...

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The reality is the vast majority of the 1st day sales will be shipped by courier - yes I went with a friend and queued for my first iPhone all those years ago (it's still working BTW) but ever since just pre-order online and has arrived on the morning of release anyway. You do it once and it's an experience to meet a load of (friendly) strangers but these days the UPS man just turns up with a small brown box.

  16. ukgnome

    If I ran a gadget shop

    I wouldn't want the great unwashed stinking up the place. (staff not included)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: If I ran a gadget shop

      Except you would if it gave you great publicity and you sold more as a result....?

      Whichever way you cut it - they are selling even more bucketloads than before and any retailer in their right mind would be very, very happy to be in this position where people will queue up to buy (without it having to be a sale).

      1. Loyal Commenter Silver badge

        Re: If I ran a gadget shop

        Really? if I ran a gadget shop, I'd make sure I had enough stock to meet the demand, and allow people to pre-order so that the iDiots don't have to queue outside, discouraging the sane customers from coming in.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: If I ran a gadget shop

          discouraging the sane customers from coming in.

          Are you suggesting any Apple shop anywhere gets sane customers?

          1. Grikath
            Meh

            Re: If I ran a gadget shop

            They don't.

            really.. any sane person that really, really wants [x] orders it online, and waits.

            Ohter than that half the people waiting in queue for an iFruit shop are doing so on behalf of someone else for [pittance].

            Another reason why you shouldnt. Or want to be seen there. or.... [facepalm]

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: If I ran a gadget shop

      If I ran a gadget shop I would have a taser under the counter and when couples come in i would shock the man and hit him with cricket bat. then take the woman.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: If I ran a gadget shop

        They "never" take a woman :P

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    First post-purchase action for these muppets.

    "Siri. Where can I get a life?"

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: First post-purchase action for these muppets.

      Siri - why are all these Samsung owners looking 'green'?

      1. noboard
        Trollface

        Re: First post-purchase action for these muppets.

        Well if a post a few places above is correct, it may be down to issues with your new retina display

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: First post-purchase action for these muppets.

        "Siri - why are all these Samsung owners looking 'green'?"

        It's certainly not from standing in the cold all night. Maybe something to do with the glow from that massive screen it has?

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: First post-purchase action for these muppets.

        Siri - why are all these Samsung owners looking 'green'?

        Maybe because you forgot to put on your rose-tinted glasses today?

  18. Reue

    Used to queue for hours

    to get into a music festival. Gates opened at 6pm, but sure as hell each year we were there at 8am. The music didnt even start for another 2 days but the queueing to be one of the first a half-flooded campsite was all part of the experience. We had an excellent time with 8 of us crammed into a 2 man tent pitched on the pavement at the front of the queue passing round the bottle of JD.

    Sometimes queueing is all part of the overall experience.

    1. Piro Silver badge

      Re: Used to queue for hours

      Drinking booze while waiting with friends for a festival isn't really comparable to clogging up a public pavement with a bunch of strangers waiting to buy an iPhone.

      1. Kristian Walsh Silver badge

        Re: Used to queue for hours

        Was going to say the same thing. If you don't queue at the concert, you don't get a good spot, close to the stage - there's a rational reason to queue. Come to think of it, if you didn't queue for the tickets in the first place, you wouldn't even have seen the concert at all.

        ... And it's not as if that concert was going to be re-staged during your lunchbreak in every small phone shop in the country for the next 12 months.

  19. Stretch

    Someone go buy some of that tinned rotting fish and smear it on them on something.

    1. Gashead

      I was thinking yesterday about those continental cities where they hose down the street late at night, Regent Street looking a bit dusty!

    2. Bored_Stupid

      Re: tinned rotting fish

      I imagine that by Friday it might help them smell a bit better right enough.

  20. Florence

    Lattes

    Sinking your shot of caffeine in two mugs of hot milk defeats the point. And they taste vile.

    Mine's the black coffee, one brown sugar. Cold milk optional.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Lattes

      > Sinking your shot of caffeine in two mugs of hot milk

      I disagree with your point, but am upvoting because I'm going to start using that bit there as a euphemism with immediate effect. Thank you.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Lattes

        Phwooooar! ;-)

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Lattes

        I am never going to look at a latte in the same light again thanks for that thought - and if anyone asks me for cream I fear I may just wet myself.

    2. BioPeek
      Paris Hilton

      Re: Lattes

      Umm... surely that should be

      two "jugs" of hot milk.

      Paris because her jugs look like the milk in her's is always piping hot!

  21. The elephant in the room
    Big Brother

    Looks like we've found the inmates...

    for the next season (God help this country) of Big Brother, not to mention the opportunity for a sponsorship deal leveraging brand synergies...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Looks like we've found the inmates...

      Sartre already did a play called "Huis clos" about three people trapped in a small room in Hell. Just add the mobile phones of choice: one iPhone 5, one iPhone 4s, and one Galaxy S3.

      Eventually, the audience would claw its own eyes out.

  22. Steve I
    Thumb Up

    Anyone remember...

    ..the saddos who queued in central London for a PS3 when they were launched?

    How we laughed. Especially with the police warnings about what would happen with loads of people going home after midnight with £400 game consoles under their arm. (Or heading for HMV with £400 cash possibly on them).

    Except Sony gave them their PS3s for free. (1st 100 or something). And a taxi home. And a (then) £2,500 42" plasma TV to play it on.

    A lot of these people seem to have valid (for them) reasons for queueing, even if it's just for the laugh or experience. I doubt many of them will regret having done it.

    1. RainForestGuppy

      Re: Anyone remember...

      This is Apple remember.

      They may be given a free plasitic bag to take their ithingy home, but I wouldn't count on it.

  23. pctechxp

    Virtual queuing is best

    For stuff I really must have on launch day (Alan Wake was the last game I craved this much) I just preordered it.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hey guys...

    ... what's going on? Has Molton Brown got a new soap coming out this week?

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Lightweights!

    I queued outside my own house for 5 months waiting for my Raspberry Pi to arrive. I didn't get free coffee off any journalists and my neighbours said I was a fucking idiot.

    I showed them though.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Lightweights!

      That's nothing, when I was a lad I used to have to queue for 3 weeks outside my own home for the privilege of sleeping for 20 minutes on a hard floor.

    2. Frumious Bandersnatch

      Re: Lightweights!

      Heh... if you were Huckleberry Finn you'd just nick the one off the neighbours windowsill.

    3. John Bailey
      Happy

      Re: Lightweights!

      "I queued outside my own house for 5 months waiting for my Raspberry Pi to arrive. I didn't get free coffee off any journalists and my neighbours said I was a fucking idiot.

      I showed them though."

      You ordered from RS didn't you.

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Wankers all

    Does this new gadget/app give free orgasms?

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Competition...

    There is a one-letter typo in the following sentence fragment:

    "self-promoting twits"

    Whoever spots it wins the "internet".

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Competition...

      self-prompting ?

      shelf-promoting ?

      serf-promoting ?

      Did I win?

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Lets hope they don't need ios6 maps to get home

    as i'm hearing to woefully shite to even the ios Google Maps, let alone the vastly superior Android Google Maps....

  29. hi_robb
    Facepalm

    Hmm...

    There doesn't seem to be many waiting at the min, the one's who are, are in a below average iQueue...

  30. mark 63 Silver badge
    FAIL

    Has there ever been a queue for something, well , worthwhile?

    1. Spleen
      Mushroom

      Evacuation of Dunkirk?

      1. hplasm
        Happy

        Or

        Evacuation of Bowel?

  31. Mark .

    To be fair, I'd be queuing up if I had to wait years for something basic - from 3G to, what is it this time, their own mapping software and a 4" screen. I'd also be queuing up if I'd had to wait 2.5 years for any significant upgrade in phone technology, rather than having the choice of new phones released all year round.

    Well okay, only joking - since I don't limit myself to one company, I don't ever need to queue. As Samsung says, it doesn't take a genuis... http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/912341-samsung-mocks-iphone-5-in-new-it-doesnt-take-a-genius-ad-campaign

  32. Timo

    Apple is usually good at extracting their premium prices

    Apple is pretty good at pocketing nearly all of the margin in the handset industry. I'm surprised that they don't set their prices a hundred pounds higher for the first month or so, to bank the extra idiot margin on the people that think they absolutely have to have it and will buy it NO MATTER THE PRICE. In fact, to these people, paying extra for it would seem to be something they'd be more than willing to do in order to demonstrate their position of high privilege. Maybe Apple could laser etch the price into it so they'd have that to flash around.

    I guess there is one potential downside to this: if half the lemmings wait to buy after the first week, they might find out that the next iThing isn't as earthshaking as they had imagined it to be, or they may have realized that they could in fact live without the next new thing. Or there could be some bugs with the new thing that give everyone pause.

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hands up who's going to start hanging outside the apple store on friday at about 0901 with a bat.

    500 in a queue = 500 free phones :)

  34. DaeDaLuS_015
    Joke

    I wouldn't have been able to resist

    "Oh you're coming back on Friday! Why don't you bring us a coffee?"

    "We would but the coffee shops are shut, you are all here!"

  35. mmm mmm

    Wankers.

  36. toadwarrior

    Not surprising a bunch of forever-alones who spend everyday bitching on the internet think leaving ther comfort of your mother's basement is a bad thing.

    1. Corinne
      Facepalm

      @toadwarrior

      I think it has to do with people having just SLIGHTLY better things to do with their time than queuing in the streets for days with total strangers for a new gadget e.g. working, drinking beer, socialising with mates, being "friendly" with their partner, sleeping in a comfortable bed rather than the pavement.

      Oops no I forgot, if you aren't an Apple fanatic then by definition you don't have a life?

    2. Piro Silver badge

      What?

      I think you came to the wrong place. This isn't a YouTube comments section, or Engadget or Reddit or whatever people are commenting on these days.

      Most people here I'd imagine work, and work in IT.

  37. RISC OS

    a mugging waiting to happen...

    ...who needs to track people with their stupid social networking posta about where they are... if you want to get your hands on some serious shit, just mug these people as they walk out of the store... hell even before they get in you could do over hundreds at night and get all the other tablets and smartphones that seem keen to show off

  38. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Please, everyone, stop this...

    Calling these people Muppets is just WRONG!

    Muppets are amusing, culturally significant and downright cool, or at least, by comparison they are...

    1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: Please, everyone, stop this...

      And kermit is (was?) a genuinely useful program.

  39. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    iDole buggers.

    That is all.

  40. Anonymous Coward
    Trollface

    Hmmm...

    Where did I put that Samsung T-Shirt?

  41. Jorba

    Intl. talk like a pirate day?

    Is this in support of pirate bay, or have youjust hired a cornish editor?

    All your staplines have a parrot on their shoulder.

    wtf

    1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      Re: Intl. talk like a pirate day?

      Re: Jorba.

      It's international talk like a pirate day. Yarr!

      C.

  42. Arachnoid

    I hope all those unemployed people that are in the queue get their dole reduced for being unavailable for work.

    1. Ross K Silver badge
      Gimp

      I hope all those unemployed people that are in the queue get their dole reduced for being unavailable for work.

      It also begs the question of how the fuck does an unemployed person afford a 500 quid phone?

  43. theloon
    Happy

    47% of people can, according to Romney

    some many people with so much time. lol

  44. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The fresh air will do them good.

  45. Crisp
    Trollface

    I've half a mind to show up at 8am on Friday, 21 September

    And then cut in line!

  46. samlebon23
    Headmaster

    One day, the Americans will be queuing for bread and soup. It's not far away.

  47. paulxb
    Thumb Up

    Still queueing yourself?

    Get someone else to do it for you...

    http://www.taskrabbit.com/iphone5

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