HUNDREDS of Slovak customers queued to buy a new iPhone 3G mobile phone within hours of its launch on the local market.Orange and T-Mobile began selling the device, manufactured by Apple, soon after midnight on August 22. In Bratislava, hundreds waited in the centre of town for shop doors to open.
Shortly before midnight, actor Ján Kroner officially launched the sale of the iPhone at the T-Mobile retail outlet in SNP Square. The first owner of the long-awaited phone was a Bratislava resident named Laky, the SITA newswire wrote.
“I have been waiting here since seven in the evening,” Laky told SITA. “I spent my time drinking water and having fun. The DJ here is good. I took pictures and I feel great. I will have something to remind me.”
According to T-Mobile spokesman Andrej Gargulák, about 300 people took part in the midnight sale at four branches. Another 7,000 registered interest in the iPhone through the company’s website, he said.
Just a few metres away from T-Mobile SNP Square branch, an Orange retail also opened for midnight sales. It attracted around 100 people, according to company spokesperson Peter Tóth.
“We have been waiting here since nine this morning,” three friends in front of the operator’s outlet on SNP Square said. “We have nothing better to do, anyway. We keep talking, and the time is passing quickly.”
T-Mobile offered the iPhone for a minimum of Sk1 (€0.03), together with a variety of monthly payment plans. Orange’s plans started at Sk271.13 (€9) a month. Without a contract, the 8-GB iPhone cost Sk15,990 (€530.77) in T-Mobile. Both companies offered a 16-GB version as well.
The new generation of iPhone, which includes a music and video player, provides an internet connection that is twice as fast as a previous version of the phone and a built-in GPS navigation system. It was designed by the American company Apple and released onto the market of twenty-four countries in early July.
