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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, June 19, 2009

New iPhone goes on sale with less drama


Staff and wire reports

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

The new iPhone 3GS has a faster processor, more storage and video shooting capabilities. Apple Inc. released the new iPhone 3GS this morning at all Apple and AT&T stores nationwide.

JOHN GARCIA | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Early comers await the new iPhone 3GS at the Apple Store in Ala Moana Center this morning. Customers started lining up as early as 4:00 A.M. to purchase the hot new smart phone.

JOHN GARCIA | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Early comers await the new iPhone 3GS at the Apple store in Ala Moana Center this morning. An early morning drizzle prompted Apple Store staff to hand out umbrellas to keep customers dry.

JOHN GARCIA | The Honolulu Advertiser

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The new iPhone went on sale in Hawaii and across the country this morning, greeted by much smaller lines and less hoopla than previous models.

A few hundred people were in line just before the 7 a.m. opening of Apple Inc.’s flagship store on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, a fraction of the people who lined up around the block for last year’s launch.
Eager customers stood in line outside the Apple Store at Ala Moana Center this morning and at the AT&T Store on Kapahulu Avenue, but the lines were much shorter this time.
Last year’s launch turned into a debacle as Apple’s servers failed to cope with the load of new customers trying to activate their phones. People who already had iPhones were trying to install a software update on the same day, adding to the pressure.
This year, Apple and AT&T Inc., the phone’s U.S. carrier, defused the drama by taking pre-orders for the new phone online. That means fewer prospective buyers had a reason to stand in line, and it sped up the activation process.
Apple also released its software update for previous customers two days early. There were only scattered reports of problems with that upgrade.
The new model is called the 3G S. AT&T said it had taken pre-orders for “hundreds of thousands” of the phones. Apple sold one million units of the older model, the 3G, in the first three days last year.
For new customers signing a two-year contract with AT&T, the 3G S costs $199 or $299 depending on the memory capacity. Compared to the 3G, it has a faster processor and an upgraded camera.
Owners of the previous model, the iPhone 3G, will have to pay more than that. Most of them are not eligible for the new-customer pricing because AT&T subsidizes the cost of the phone and requires customers to “pay off” the subsidy through their monthly service fees before it will subsidize a new phone.