iPhone 5 Queues Around The World

The Global Apple Queue

The Apple iPhone 5 has been released and is selling like crazy. When it was released on the 21st September, thousands of Apple fans queued up to be the first to get their hands on the coveted handset. Amongst them was Aussie Todd, MobilePhoneFinder.com.au's own front man. He bore the cold, sleeping outdoors in the middle of Sydney city and disapproving glares from passer-bys. He was also greeted by many off the street and made a few friends with other queue-goers (some even internationally!). At the end of it all, Aussie Todd walked away with the first iPhone 5 in the world, ready to be compared by our team and given away in our competition.

Here's a breakdown of the queues that formed worldwide for the launch of the iPhone 5:

Apple Store queue line up at George Street Store in Sydney

The Mobile Phone Finder team were queued up outside the George Street, Sydney flagship Apple store. Take a look at what they got up to in the time leading up to the launch:

Day 1 - 19th September, 2012

11:03pm, It was a really intense night and day with a lot of buzz and excitement. The media have been down several times and everyone who comes by is asking what is going on.

Day 2 - 20th September, 2012

12:33am - We have some serious roadworks out the front of the store right now and we have put our ear plugs in. They work a treat actually although its really hard to talk to each other. Most of the people lined up are sleeping or at least trying to with the road works.

1:08am - Still trucking along. Wanted to introduce you to some of the crew. Here are Pierre and Neli.

Pierre


Neli - Giving a Thumbs up Aussie Todd

Neli has no plans of camping out on the streets to buy something in the near future. Neli is not aspiring to be Greg Packer.

1:29am - Another taxi went by. Woah, there are a lot of taxis. Pierre yawned again. Pierre can't wait till Friday. Neli is also super keen on Friday coming soon. Another taxi went by.

1:31am - Sent a tweet out to one of the bloggers who is lined up at the New York Store. I hope Keenan and Jessica tweet back?

1:36am - In the last 5 minutes, 36 taxis have gone past. Make that 37. Trying to get in contact with the 2 guys, Ryan Williams and Peter King from Kent (Blog) outside the covent garden Apple store. Just found their website to donate at and the eBay listing for their first iPhone.

Check them out in the media here

1:49am - Neli won't teach me her recipe for Kim Chi. She is up to 170 taxis counted in 18 minutes.

1:51am - Ate a random chip that was on my blanket. Hope it was ok.. 181..2 taxis in 20 minutes.

2:21am - Had a Facetime with the coolest guys in London. They are on a great mission! #Q4Cure. It has really raised our spirits given the insane roadworks and the cold.

Here is a little dedication video out to the guys:

Jump on board and donate to their great cause here!

2:35am - Sending a shout out to Vibe App who are 1st in the line in New York. I wonder if they will Facetime us back.

2:48am - Drunken people have been shouting and causing trouble. Security guards aren't that happy. But they have gone home now. A cool guy with a mexican hat was a dude and offered us some of his chips!

3:42am - Made a little caption meme for @iphoneWhatever - “NO THANKS, I’M VEGAN.”

4:18am - Getting pretty tired. The energy drinks are wearing off.

4:29am - Some people have left their chairs for quite a few hours. Does that still count as in the line?

5:23am - I am struggling a bit now. Been awake for many hours and people are starting to wake up. There are cyclists on the roads and people walking to work even.

What were we doing in the office while our mates where out in the cold? Take a look!

How does a small team get the edge on one of the most anticipated product launches in history?

With a big brainstorm to kick things off

The launch of the iPhone 5 is one of the biggest things to happen in the mobile phone space this year - when Apple puts out a product, it's a big deal.

We're just like everybody else: we love Apple's sleek and innovative products, so naturally we want to make sure the launch of the iPhone 5 gets the publicity and recognition it deserves.

And in order to make that happen, we had to plan.

It's very rare that we have the collective brainpower of Hive Empire marshaled in the one room, but Friday was one of those days, and we would be lying if we said that there wasn't a bit of electricity in the air.

The point of us all coming together was to see how we could best use the entire resources of the company to make a splash when the iPhone 5 was released.

We had a couple of great projects in the works, the comic being something we're particularly proud of (check out the images below), but more was needed to capitalise on the internet juice this product launch represented.

Comic Production by Francis Vallejo

We organised a comic to go out with our launch and Vallejo was fantastic about the whole thing - his work is amazing and he kept us up-to-date throughout his whole process. Here are a few in-production shots:

Claude was given the task of organising the iPhone 5 survival kits for our media friends who stayed up for the launch as well.

What's an iPhone 5 survival kit?

A nice thought.....

'An iPhone 5 launch survival kit is what we sent out to the tech journalists around the country who stayed up late to cover the launch of the iPhone 5. We stayed up too, and we needed things like lollies and caffeine - so we thought the people out there covering the launch would need these things as well,' says Claude.

Survival Kit contents

• Red Bull
• Apples
• Coffee
• Panadol
• Phones + sim cards
• Cup 'o' soup
• Party poppers
• Stickers
• A secret message from the MPF team

iPhone 5 launch day!!

Many thanks to Luke Hopewell for sharing the love!