iPhone 5 fever breaks out across Triangle

Durham, N.C. — Jonathon Myers waited in line at the Apple store in Durham for his iPhone 5 for 58 hours.

A clerk at the store, in the Streets of Southpoint mall, finally gave Myers the coveted device at 8:05 a.m. Friday.

"Apple employees started coming in, congratulating me, shaking my hand," Myers said. "They all came out and had a meeting and congratulated me. They were really happy and excited for me."

Myers was among hundreds of people who waited in long lines at stores across the Triangle for the iPhone 5, which went on sale at 8 a.m. Friday.

Apple received 2 million pre-orders of the iPhone 5 within the first 24 hours of pre-orders going online last week, twice the amount of orders for the iPhone 4S during the same period one year ago. Less than 24 hours after pre-orders began, shipping dates for the phones were pushed back two to three weeks from the Sept. 21 release date.

Analysts estimate that Apple will ship up to 10 million iPhone 5s by the end of September. J.P. Morgan Chase estimates that sales from the iPhone 5 will give the U.S. economy a $3.2 billion boost this quarter.

But the facts and figures were secondary for customers like Myers, who couldn't wait to own the sleek new phone.

The iPhone 5 is thinner, lighter and has a taller screen than its predecessor.

"They went taller, so I can still hold it with one hand, and text with one hand and not two, which I like," Myers said. "I don't want a miniature tablet in my pocket."

The phone also has a faster processor and updated software, and it is compatible with the faster "fourth generation" mobile networks.

"You're really looking at Internet on your phone at Wi-Fi and broadband speed when you're mobile." Michael Sanders of the AT&T store at Cary Towne Center said.

For many consumers, the iPhone 5 is the last connection to iconic Apple founder Steve Jobs, who died in October 2011.

"It's not even just about the phone," Myers said. "It's the fact that this one of the last products that Steve Jobs worked on before he passed away."

The iPhone 5 starts at $199 for customers who agree to a two-year contract with a wireless service provider. The iPhone 4S can be now be purchased for lower prices, starting at $99 from the Apple Store.

On Sept. 28, the iPhone 5 will go on sale in 22 more countries. By the end of 2012, the phone will be on sale in over 100 countries.

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Latest Comments

"[Someone who will not be named] waited in line at the Apple store in Durham for his iPhone 5 for 58 hours."

I don't know if that's crazy or foolish. That's a lot of time that could have been spent relating to others in person, or have we forgotten how to do that?

The difference between a smart phone and a brick is that the brick is cheaper, heavier, and ten times more useful.

OpenM1nd
September 21, 2012 6:44 p.m.

How incredibly sad. So much emphasis placed on a piece of plastic and metal.

ncdedhed
September 21, 2012 6:33 p.m.

I don't understand why people waited in line for it for that long. They are nice, but I won't waste 2-3 days of my life waiting on something I can order online.

We had thought about upgrading our old iPhones but I was just going to order them online at some point. On a whim, I stopped by the Apple store at Crabtree Mall at lunch and was in and out with two new iPhone 5's in less than 30 minutes. They had plenty of them and their process was very efficient.