iPhone 3G Launch in Montreal

Posted by dennis on July 11th, 2008 at 11:38pm Comments

Today iPhone 3G was launched in countless cities in 22 countries across the world, and Montreal was one of them, to the joy of many Montrealers, Quebecers, and Canadians.

Rogers and Fido flagship stores on Ste Catherine (which happen to be in front of each other) opened at 8am, but according to some claims, people camped outside from as early as 3am, while quite a lot of them joined the queue around 6-7am.

Fido flagship store selling iPhones in Montreal

Both the Rogers and the Fido lines were immense, spanning well down the street and around the corner. This is probably the first time in Canada’s history that so many people stood in line to get a mobile phone.

Rogers flagship store selling iPhones in Montreal

The characters were rather different, let’s just name a few:
- A serious business lady that never stopped talking on her phone while standing in line — she was ready to stand 3 hours in line to get an iPhone, and left as soon as it’s been announced that 16GB units are sold out.
- A middle aged Apple head that enjoys Apple products, and therefore is hooked on the iPhone.
- A younger than 18 girl who has to wait for her father to come with her to the store to change her contract.
- A couple in their 40’s, standing patiently in line to get their iPhones.
- Dave, a mobile phones enthusiast, standing in line with his unlocked firstgen iPhone, looking to get the 3G iPhone as one of the first in Canada.

iPhone queue

What drove these people to get the iPhone? Some appear to be in love with the iPod component of the device, others are in love with Apple’s products in general, while yet more people just want to get the latest gadget as soon as possible.

Why do they want to get it on the opening day? Gadget lovers obviously want their fix as soon as possible, yet others seem to be interested in Rogers’ and Fido’s special limited time dataplan offer, while Dave said that he was there for the girls — and girls there were.

Rogers iPhone Girls

Actually, both Rogers and Fido have made an extraordinary effort to keep customers happy. Staff girls were entertaining the line with free gifts (such as t-shirts, caps, umbrellas — for some reason, even though it’s summer now — , CD’s, and apparently even Simple Plan concert tickets [which mysteriously were never won....]). The queue was even offered free orange juice and bottled water.

CBC’s van

CBC, RCN, and TVA TV networks were on the scene, videotaping the crowd and providing the usual witty remarks to viewers. LCN and TVA were there early, CBC appeared a bit later.

TVA reporting on iPhone

So all was dandy for a while, however, soon, the store ran out of 16GB iPhones — about 2 hours after iPhone sales started. That’s when the queue became much smaller due to multiple people attempting to get the device in different stores. About an hour later, iTunes/Rogers registration systems became overloaded, while the people at the back of the queue were told that there’s probably not enough units for everyone, and then the queue shortened again.

That’s the only iPhone some folks got to even see today

The store eventually ran out of iPhones around 2:30pm, by which time the journalists and Rogers girls were gone, so the remaining customers in queue were left without iPhones and no entertainment.

Analysis of Montreal’s iPhone launch:
+ Flagship stores opened at 8am, ahead of regular opening time.
+ Rogers / Fido staff was prepared to answer questions and was very friendly.
+ Prizes and free refreshments helped keep the spirits high.

- The stores did not have enough iPhones in stock.
- Registration system glitches reduced the processing speed to a crawl.

Synopsis:
* While Rogers and Fido enjoyed some very good sales and showed some good spirit today, they simply were not ready to accommodate all customers. But while a lot of Canadians won’t be able to get iPhones until their local stores will restock on inventory, it appears that the iPhone will be very, very popular in Canada.

P.S. Stay tuned for more iPhone launch photos from Montreal and Vancouver.

Related posts:

1. Rogers is experiencing iPhone activation problems
2. Limited iPhones availability in Canada?
3. Fido offers $30 / 6GB iPhone dataplan in Canada too
4. Canadian iPhone 3GS launch analysis. Rogers / Fido. Phone CSRs: bad. Online Twitter PR: excellent.
5. iPhone is out in Canada!

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Filed Under: News+ iPhone 3G+ iPhone Canada+ iPhone Fido+ iPhone Rogers

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