iPhone 3G Unboxing

iPhone mania has swept Australia today, and will likely follow the sun as the new 3G version goes on sale across the world.

Stores locally to me opened at 7am to sell the phone, but given my aversion to queuing I left home just before 8. The local Optus retailer literally just down the street had a queue of somewhere between 100-200 metres so I drove past that, and instead headed to a smaller reseller that was suppose to open a 9am.

When I got there, they’d opened at 7am as well, but luckily not many people knew so I managed to buy their last 16GB iPhone. The plan: $79/ mth over 2 years, $2/ mth handset payment, $500 odd in calls a month and 700mb per data, although unlimited data for the first month.

Optus decided to chase the fail whale while I was getting the phone. An override code was required for me to sign up as I was an existing customer on a plan, and that took 15 minutes on hold with the call center. Then the Optus Dealer Network crashed completely, meaning that the poor reseller was left with a 500 error screen where he needed to enter a code. 45 minutes later…it was up again.

During this time more and more people entered the store, with lots of different stories. People were cruising stores trying to buy phones. Lots of reports about stores being allocated less than 10 phones each. Nearly everyone wanted the 16GB version, and many people came and went when they were told there were no more available. As I left the store there, the call centre had stopped taking calls, with the call made after me having been on hold for nearly one hour. Every phone in the shop was dialled in, waiting on hold as the new phone applications piled up.

My unboxing of the phone above, as I actually did it.