iPhone 5 Draws Endless Lines of Buyers on First Day of Sales

iPhone 5 Draws Endless Lines of Buyers on First Day of Sales

iPhone Buyers Queued Up Outside Verizon Stores Too

As shown by the line outside the Verizon store, Apple wasn’t the only place with lines of buyers waiting to buy the iPhone 5. A lot of people showed up at the Verizon store where the service seemed a lot faster than at the Apple Store.

iPhone 5 Draws Endless Lines of Buyers on First Day of Sales

iPhone Buyers Snake Between Rows of Velvet Rope

Hordes of iPhone buyers faced Disneyworld-scale lines bounded by rows of velvet rope as they waited for hours to get a chance to buy an iPhone 5.

iPhone 5 Draws Endless Lines of Buyers on First Day of Sales

The Lines Seem Endless

Once the lines overflowed the velvet ropes, they seemed to stretch off to infinity.

iPhone 5 Draws Endless Lines of Buyers on First Day of Sales

The Ultimate Insult: Running Short of Power in Line

An unidentified iPhone owner suffers the ultimate tragedy–not enough battery power to last through the line.

iPhone 5 Draws Endless Lines of Buyers on First Day of Sales

Reaching the End of the Line

Hundreds of people later, we discover the end of the line for the Apple Store as it takes a turn upstairs, seemingly on its way to join the line at Verizon.

iPhone 5 Draws Endless Lines of Buyers on First Day of Sales

It’s Time to Get iPhone Sales Rolling

It’s 8 a.m. at the Apple Store and time to start selling. Is there a problem?

iPhone 5 Draws Endless Lines of Buyers on First Day of Sales

Getting Ready for the Onslaught

No problem really, the Apple employees are hanging out while people outside get things ready–like buying gigantic containers of coffee to serve to the nearly comatose crowds.

iPhone 5 Draws Endless Lines of Buyers on First Day of Sales

The Apple Store Opens for Business at Last

The AT&T and Verizon stores open on time, and iPhones are selling like hotcakes.

iPhone 5 Draws Endless Lines of Buyers on First Day of Sales

First Verizon Buyer Earns Bragging Rights

David Rulf of Chantilly, Va., holds up his card showing his status as the first buyer in the Verizon Wireless store, which opened a few minutes before the Apple store. Rulf said that he’s a loyal eWEEK reader, so we think he deserves to be first.

iPhone 5 Draws Endless Lines of Buyers on First Day of Sales

His and Hers iPhone 5s

David Rulf shows off the two iPhone 5 devices he bought on the first day, a white 32GB version for himself, and a black 64GB version for his wife.