Fans flock to Apple's Ginza store for new iPhone

"100 lined up on thrusday night"... very pleasant weather conditions here in tokyo (ginza) temp below 20C.

Why lineup? I ordered mine from softbank they'll give me a call when I can pick it up. I have better things to do like have life and spend a weekend in Kyoto :D

How much will it retail for in Japan?

One more thing, silly Japanese siri and shiri sound nothing alike. How hard is it for Japanese to pronounce the si sound?

Ryosuke Ishinabe: "I have never queued up in my life to buy something"

Atta boy!

America Hussein - Nice avatar.

I wish phones would stop attempting to be smart and go back to being small. I remember my PHS with fondness. I don't want all that junk on my phone.

Lets c how many people disagrew with u timtak. Heres ur first thumb down

madness. Wait in line for a friggin phone. Looook look at me I got the first Iphone 4s. pfff but whatever floats your boat

If you have an iPhone 4 already, just stick a little "S" sticker next to the 4. Done.

Set up camp in the cesium streets of Ginza to get a stupid phone when it can be ordered from Softbank and picked up at any time. Ridiculous.

What's with all the bashing? To each and their own. A fan's a fan. Who are we to judge? Good for you Ryosuke.

おしり？お尻？ I guess if this new iPhone application Has a new Siri ?? Cool!!

I believe some people just love to wait in line for the feeling of satisfaction they get in achieving their goals.

was there an hour ago..line stretched 2.5 blocks.

It is only a "record breaker" because Apple moved the release date for multiple countries to the same day. Count the number of units sold in the first month for a more accurate figure.

The only thing I do not like about Apple is that they keep introducing newer version of the same product every year. Soon or later, people's iphone becomes thing of the past... Not everyone buys the product of the release date so I am sure people who just got their iphone like few months ago feels kinda left out...

so now with freaks running around outside seemingly talking to themselves (bluetooth), more freaks will be talking into their phones, too lazy to type an email.

fans flocked to the company's flagship store in Ginza on Friday morning

I envy people that can do stuff like this on Friday mornings. I have to work.

I went to my local Softbank store yesterday to ask about my iPhine 3Gs which is totally broken. They ended my contract, started a new one and said i can have one of these phoens within 1 week. They reckon my charges will also be lower.

I am going to strut my oshiri down to softbank today and do what steve did.

japanGal; And so you should. I was surprised in a good way about the news and the young lady at the counter complimented me on my make up and nail varnish.

So they get the phone, take it to their mobile shop and....? Get told they have to that a) they aren't allowed to use it with that carrier (not all here have iphones) or b) are charged a highly monthly rate because the carrier isn't making money off the rental. How does this work?? I wanted to bring an iphone back from abroad (much cheaper) and was told that nope, you can only use the ones you get from the carriers.

So they get the phone, take it to their mobile shop and....? Get told they have to that a) they aren't allowed to use it with that carrier (not all here have iphones) or b) are charged a highly monthly rate because the carrier isn't making money off the rental. How does this work??

The staff in the Apple Store will sort you out with a contract with either Softbank or KDDI.

Steve@CPFC: My situation is similar, save that my 3G still works (albeit it's getting slower and slower). I went my local Softbank shop this past Sunday and reserved a 4S. Under their current campaign, thanks to the new rivalry, they're offering the handsets without any 'atama-kin' (頭金) and without penalty for getting out of your contract early. The town I'm in is probably smaller than where you are, because they said I'd likely have to wait more than a week.

For those with 3G(S) it's a BIG step up, albeit not quite the step we were all expecting. Anyway, if people want to wait in line, let them. While I wouldn't be lined up outside an Apple store in all likelihood, you'd see me there before you saw me forming a kilometer long line outside a Krispy Kreme and Kobe Roll Cake shop.

2020, thanks! So they do get their piece of the pie via Apple. Figures they'd be in on it.

Now Softbank is running a campaign where if you purchase an iPad2 at the same time as your iPhone your connection and packet fees become 0 yen (for 2 years??) up to 100MB a month... Having never used an ipad, am I to presume that the average user is going to go way over 100MB a month making this campaign pretty pointless or is it actually a pretty good deal??

I'm holding out for the iPhone7. This 4S thing is obsolete already.

iOS 5 is amazing so far. I will holdoff upgrading from 4 to 4S though. Siri is not enough.

Hope they have fun with their new gadget.

But please remember people, it's just a silly little device with a screen...

There are much more important things in life... meeting friends, spending time with loved ones, making love, having kids, playing on the grass on a sunny day, drinking a fine wine, learning a musical instrument...

You know, the things people did before they started wasting massive amounts of time staring at silly little devices with a screen...

choiwaruoyaji - so...."sniff".......beautiful......

The only thing I do not like about Apple is that they keep introducing newer version of the same product every year. Soon or later, people's iphone becomes thing of the past... Not everyone buys the product of the release date so I am sure people who just got their iphone like few months ago feels kinda left out...

the "smugalert.com" summed it up well.

*Those hoping for a completely revamped iPhone 5 were disappointed on Tuesday when Apple CEO Tim Cook unveiled the iPhone 4S, a device that is basically identical to the iPhone 4 on the outside, but has a dual-core A5 processor, a super-charged camera, Siri voice recognition, and iOS 5 on the inside. What Timmy Cook doesn’t get that Steve Jobs (R.I.P, homie) seemed to understand so well is: the majority of smug a-holes using iPhones don’t give a Frack about their phone getting some nerd-friendly upgrades on the inside. Faster processors. Improved antennas. Increased camera pixels. Great, thats frakking dandy. But where is the improvement we can SEE?! A new iPhone isn’t just a phone, its a goddamn status symbol. It allows its owner to say to those with a later model iPhone or "gasp", an Android or Blackberry, “I’m better than you and you’re a MF-in’ peasant.” Where is the improvement that a smug a-hole’s friends, co-workers, and ex-lovers will be able to see and drool over and associate that smug a-hole with when he whips his shiny new Apple thing out? It’s not there. Scoreboard: Not-Smug People: 1 Smug People: 0