The Singapore launch of the 3GS on Friday night was marked by long queues, even for those who pre-ordered. The first person to pick up his iPhone from Singtel began queueing at 9am on Friday, 11 hours before the 8pm launch.
According to news reports, Jackson Low, a medical tests subject recruiter (?!), is no stranger to queuing for the iPhone. Last year, at the launch of the iPhone 3G, he was the second person in line where he began queuing five hours before the midnight launch. To ensure he would be first this year, he went down extra early. For his pains, he received his iPhone from Singtel group chief executive Chua Sock Koong and Singapore chief executive Allen Lew.
Singtel yesterday estimated that about 1,500 to 2,000 people were expected. At 11pm, Singtel announced that the queue had closed, but those in line could expect to wait about six hours.
Despite the long queue, it was relatively orderly. However, people were naturally unhappy about having to queue, especially those who pre-ordered. Singtel had two queues, for pre-orders and walk-ins. However, those who pre-ordered ended up waiting for many hours as well. Complaints about the long wait were rife on Twitter and local forum Hardwarezone. People have posted tweets about waiting as long as seven hours to get the new iPhone. Posted @M0T0chan: "Just showered after an almost-7-hour wait at the SingTel Comcentre for my iPhone 3GS 32gb Black. Dead beat...this was longer than last year". Another person, @audreyhuang, was less polite. "stupid singtel!!!!!!!!!! waiting in line for more than 6hours! im so fucking tireddddddddddddddddddddd."
The iPhone 3GS is being launched only at the Singtel shop at Comcentre. Special offers were made to attract people to upgrade this weekend for the launch.
The launch event continues today and Sunday as well. At the time of this writing (10.45am), long queues have already been reported at Comcentre.
To alleviate the queue, Singtel is offering to ship the iPhone 3GS to the homes of people who order online.
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