SA queues to buy iPhone 5

2012-12-14 11:07

The iPhone5. Picture: Beck Diefenbach/Reuters

Chantelle Nicholas

Cape Town – The new iPhone 5 that went on sale at Vodacom and iStore shops in South Africa is selling out fast as people queued to get their hands on the latest Apple device.

A Consultant at the iStore in Sandton told News 24 the store opened on Friday morning at 07:00 and about 40 to 50 people were queuing outside their store.

He said there were less than 10 units left at the Sandton store and that the stock was only available for cash or on 8ta contracts.

The iStore at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town had over 10 units left, while the iStore at Canal Walk was sold out.

A salesperson at the Vodacom 4U store in Sandton told News24 there people were queuing outside the shop since 07:30 on Friday morning.

Reserved

"About 50 to 100 people were queuing outside the shop for the new iPhone 5," she said.

According to her, they received less than 100 units of the iPhone 5. She said they sold most of their stock and only have a few units left.

The Vodacom shop at the Waterfront only received 10 units of the iPhone 5 that were reserved for customers that are already waiting for the phone.

"We received more than 2 500 pre-orders. We will get a few phones on Monday but that will only be sold cash. We are receiving our stock in drips and drabs," a salesperson working at the Waterfront store told News24.

The Vodacom shop in Canal Walk didn't have any stock and said they will only receive stock next week.

The iPhone 5 is the thinnest and lightest iPhone, redesigned to feature Apple's 10cm Retina display.

The company was embarrassed with its mapping app which was panned for inaccuracy after Apple dropped Google Maps for navigation on its devices.

On Thursday, Google launched a map application for iOS, which has raced to the top of the rankings of downloaded apps on Apple's app store.

Prices for the iPhone 5 16GB start at R8 299.

Are you queuing for an iPhone? Send us your eyewitness accounts

– Follow Chantelle on Twitter.