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Orange Pads Poland iPhone Lines with Actors

Friday, August 22nd, 2008 at 10:40 AM - by

Apparently iPhone 3G envy isn't as high in Poland as it is in other countries, so Orange paid actors to stand in line to help drive up interest in the combination iPod and smartphone. The iPhone 3G went on sale in an additional 21 countries on August 22, including Poland, and Orange thought that padding customer lines with actors would help draw more interest from potential customers, according to Forbes.

"It was a part of our marketing strategy, the concept was thought up at Orange Poland," company representatives said. "The aim was to 'warm up' the atmosphere around the launch of the iPhone."

While Poland's launch day lines may be short, that wasn't the scene when the iPhone 3G launched on July 11 in about 20 countries including the United States. U.S. customers stood in line for hours, and demand was so high the activation servers weren't able to keep up and crashed. Even three weeks after the launch, many stores still had daily lines filled with shoppers hoping to get ahold of an iPhone.

Apple has also been ramping up iPhone 3G production to meet world wide customer demand. In Poland, however, it looks like the Cupertino-based company shouldn't have any problems supplying enough iPhones.

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Fri Aug 22, 2008 11:58 am

Perhaps their priorities are different? Food, Housing, Income, Fuel, then iPhone...

Many of my twenty-something year old co-workers complain about not being able to afford to buy a house, the cost of gasoline, and groceries. Yet, they stood in line to buy an iPhone! Hmmmmm?

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JonGl said:

member since 12 Jan 2006 with 113 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Aug 22, 2008 1:03 pm

I doubt their concerns are economical. Poland's economy is quite booming at the moment (and our dollar stinks in comparison--hurting us, as our income is in dollars, not zloty). I was walking in the center of Krakow today, and saw an Orange store, with quite a number of people inside, behind a huge, person-sized iPhone sticker on the window. I didn't realize that today was the day. Anyway, out of interest, i went in, but could find no concrete data on the costs. Had to go online. Ouch. Actually, the initial purchase can be quite cheap, even free, but the monthy fees are between $75 up to about 150! However, I still don't think that would be enough to turn people off--it's not much more expensive than many data plans available here. However, I do know that Polish people aren't the type to line up for something like this. Lines are a thing of the past now (as are empty store shelves). One other suspicion I have is that people who _really_ wanted on already have a jailbroken, unlocked one. One other thought. People are also quite fond here of pre-paid phones. So, amongst these reasons, I wouldn't expect to see long lines.

-Jon

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