Hong Kong's Severe iPhone 6 Obsession

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1/12/2015 @ 8:29fm 9 768 views
Hong Kong's Severe iPhone 6 Obsession
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Hong Kong: It’s 7.55 am and I’m up, wide-eyed, staring at my laptop. Before me sits Apple’s iPhone 6 reservation page, which I’m vigorously refreshing. Why? Because reserving an iPhone 6 from the Apple store is the only way you’re going to buy an “official” one in Hong Kong. Almost four months after it was released, it’s still near impossible to buy an iPhone 6 in Hong Kong.

I know I’m not alone too, there are hundreds, maybe even thousands, of other willing and eager potential iPhone owners doing exactly what I’m doing – hoping for a chance to get one of today’s rationed iPhones that are released for sale at 8am.

Whilst I’m doing this for journalistic reasons, for many, this is their only chance of getting their hands on what has become an incredibly important social status symbol in this part of the world. The power of Apple’s brand in Hong Kong is not to be understated. It means that Apple’s insistence on rationing the available handsets feels like a cruel game to see what lengths people will go to to buy one. Lengths I’m currently deeply embedded in.


The eternally busy Causeway Bay Apple store. Photo credit Jay McGregor

Here’s how it works; to buy an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus you must log on to the Apple iPhone 6 reservation page and wait for the window to open at 8am. Once that happens, you’ll need to log in and send a text to Apple in order to receive a special code that lets you progress to the next stage. Once you’ve received and input your code, and it’s accepted, you’re taken to a page which lets you select which iPhone you want and where to pick it up from.

This is where it get a bit hairy. There are three official Apple stores in Hong Kong; Causeway Bay, Festival hall and the IFC. As you select the phone, memory size and colour and then click on each store, you’ll be greeted with either ‘available’ or ‘unavailable’. I’ve only once seen it say ‘available’.

For six days I’ve been trying to buy an iPhone 6 with this method and I never get past this stage. My first day, admittedly, I was slow. I forgot my Apple ID and it took me a while to log in. Looking back on Monday’s Jay, I could see how naive and filled with wistful optimism he was. Sunday’s Jay is a far darker and battle-hardened person. How I long to be Monday’s Jay again. Just once.

Frustrated with my lack of progress I decide to just try and buy an iPhone 6 at the Apple store, in person, and hope I get lucky. As I enter the foyer and ask a clerk if it’s possible to buy one, I try to pretend like a dumb tourist who hasn’t spent the last six days getting up early playing iReserve roulette.

The clerk looks at me with utter bemusement. She wears the expression of someone who’s politely greeting a hated acquaintance. As the words “I’d like to buy an iPhone 6 please” tumble out of my mouth in slow motion, I can see her face – also in slow motion – turn into a crumpled grimace. Each word causing another contortion. As the full weight of my outlandish request hits her, I can see that my question has both physically and emotionally rocked her.

Hong Kongers, if anything, are exceptionally polite. And the woman, with her severely contorted grimace, calmly explains to me that I have to go to the iPhone reserve webpage – a sentence she’s clearly used to rattling off.

As she passes on this body blow of information I actually mumble the phrase “go to the iPhone reserve webpage” with her as if we’re singing in unison – revealing my earlier facade of being a dumb tourist to be a not-so-clever tactic.

I walk away, head drooped, doing my best Charlie Brown impersonation.

As I jump on the subway (MTR) and head back to the apartment, I begin to notice iPhones everywhere. Everyone, every child, every mum, dad and dog has an iPhone 6. This is more than just a popular phone, it’s a cult, a status symbol and a validation of one’s place in life all rolled into one 4.7-inch slab of Appley goodness. Analysts say that the launch of the iPhone 6 arrested at 9 month decline in retail sales and actually boosted them by 4.8%.


Customers queueing up to buy their reserved iPhones. Photo credit: Jay McGregor

The lack of available devices is a good reflection of Hong Kong’s affection for Apple and in particular, the iPhone. There are three huge, multistoried, Apple stores alone in this tiny region. The Apple store is busy at any time of the day, any time of year, with people playing with the products or just hanging around – even if they have no intention of buying anything. I couldn’t imagine the same kind of crowds at a Samsung store.

The Apple stores have become some kind of Apple afinado Mecca where people meet, talk and share laughs together. All under the gaze of a half eaten piece of fruit. Even if the store is closed and there’s something of cultural significance happening elsewhere, you’ll still find the die-hard loiterers lingering outside.


So what’s driving this all-engrossing love affair with iPhone 6 in Hong Kong? – Apple products have become synonymous with a particular lifestyle. Everyone wants to look young, wealthy and carefree. Flicking through selfies on the MTR says that – even if it’s far from the truth.

The other comes from mainland China. The iPhone 6 went on sale in the mainland about a month after Hong Kong on the 17th October, which drove the initial shortage as tourists crossed the border to join a very long queue. But there’s also the fact that it’s also $100 cheaper in HK – making the relatively cheap trip across the border worth it.

The initial surge in interest from Hong Kongers and people from the mainland spawned a separate, self-sustaining, reactionary industry of scalpers who resell the device for a hugely marked up price right outside of the Apple store. Vice’s Michael Grothaus wrote an excellent piece about it last year. In January 2015, the scalpers are still there, outside the Apple store in Causeway Bay, haggling with desperate passers by.


iPhone 6 scalpers sell marked up iPhones right outside of the Apple store. Photo credit: Jay McGregor

The manic hunger for the iPhone 6 is still very real in Hong Kong. An Apple store clerk I spoke to told me that it’s common for people to try and buy one through the reserve system for two months. Two months. That’s 60 days of getting up at 7.45 am, turning on your laptop, and hoping today is your lucky day. That’s extreme by any metric. Especially when you consider the abundance of other, cheaper, smartphones available at one of Hong Kong’s many gadget shops.

What’s become clear is that this will be a perpetual problem for Hong Kongers. A resident tells me it’s been like this since the iPhone first arrived, and it’s getting worse. The more exclusive the iPhone 6 becomes purely because of a lack of stock, the deeper the need for one is entrenched.

The iPhone has become some sort of celebrity in its own right. Its legions of fans hanging around waiting for it to make an appearance and people wasting 60 days of their life trying to get a ticket to see it in person.

As I stood by and watched that day’s lucky iPhone reserve winners queue up to hand over their cash, I noted the store clerks whooping, clapping and saying ‘congratulations’ to the new owners. Customers were laughing and getting other store clerks to take group pictures with them and their new toy. It was, apparently, a really big deal.

In this world, the retailer congratulates you for buying their goods. The prevailing idea is that they’ve done you a favour. Judging by the reactions of the customers, it might actually be true.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaymcgre...e-6-obsession/

[Dictator]

Iphone6 and overheating problems.