Official Maxis iPhone 4 Launch

Here I am at The Gardens Hotel, Mid Valley, Kuala Lumpur, for the launching of iPhone 4 by Maxis, and more importantly, getting myself a new iPhone 4.

When I got to the enterence of the ballroom, it’s 2 minutes away before midnight, and there are tons of people already in the queue.

So I guess the guy at the very from will be the very first iPhone 4 user in Malaysia, and I heard that he started queuing there since 4pm. That’s 8 hours in the queue line. Phew.

I would like to share with you my experience with the journey of becoming an early user of iPhone 4 in Malaysia, going through the dragged hours of 3-stage process.

Stage 1 – Queuing for collection ticket

12:03am
I’m finally in the queue, and it stretches almost 500 meters through the winding service corridor of The Garden Hotel. This is where Apple fan-boys and fan-girls gathered together. You can see most are using all kind of iPhone models (that will be upgraded tonight) and some are even come with iPad in the hand.

They quite strict here as they only want those who register earlier to have privileged of owning iPhone 4 before it’s open to public. So if you don’t have the confirmation email of the booking, then you are off the queue. There are Maxis crew that walk around to fill the Maxis iPhone 4 Collection Checklist.

The queue moves really slow. For the first hour from the launching time, I can only see whites, VVIP and media crew coming out the ballroom with a new iPhone 4 in hand. That’s what I hate here. There’s always priority given to those people. In oversea, if you want to get phone earlier than other, then you have to be in the queue like anyone else.

Stage 2 – Waiting hall

2:21am
After been standing in the queue for 2 hours, I finally got the collection ticket. 2 hours? Well, the waiting hall is quite small, and they can’t really let so many people in. The current ticket number that is served now is 3127,

and my ticket number is 3530. That’s 403 people still waiting for their turn to collect the iPhone. I feel like fainting already. But it’s better than outside before in the queue. At least, I can sit on the floor, playing with my iPhone 3G?

This will be the last few days that I will be seeing my old iPhone 3G. So better take a photo of it, as I will surely miss it soon 😀

Tired of sitting down, I just walk around the waiting hall to snap a few of photos. Some are excited, some are tired and sleepy, and even some almost lost patience already.

2.55am
Those who has been issued the ticket before 2:15am are being called to the collection hall now. Mine is issued at 2:21am. That means the next group of people is those tickets issued before 2:30am.

Current ticket number served is 3261. There are still 269 people in front of me waiting for their iPhone.

There are a few iPhone 4 guys walking around, holding iPhone 4 in their hands where you can stop them and play around with this new iPhone 4 and ask questions if you have any. I want to first touch my own iPhone 4, and not someone else. Even it’s quite tempting to stop laid a hand on that iPhone and play around with it, I rather wait until I get mine.

Stage 3 – iPhone 4 collection hall

4:24am
Finally, the are calling those tickets issued before 2:30am in the collection hall already. There are 60 counters opened tonight, with counter 50 to 60 are for those that need help with configuring the new iPhone. A few photos from inside this hall.

5:23am
It’s another 1 hour waiting time here, until finally my number is called. I feel so excited at this moment and stop snapping photo altogether. I keep note of the time when I first sat on the chair at the collection counter, until the time that I walk away with iPhone in hands. It takes about 16 minutes. Let assume it’s 20 minutes, and let’s do some math here.

Time that I got my ticket : 2.21am
Number of ticket to go at at 2:21am : 403
Time to serve 403 people : (403 / 50 counters) x 20 mins per person
Time to serve 403 people : = 161.2 minutes
Time to serve 403 people : = 2 hours 41.1 minutes
Expected time I should be served : (2.21am + 2 hours 41 minutes)
Expected time I will be served : = 5:02am

Time my number is called : 5:23am
Hhhmm. Not far from the estimated time that I calculate about. If only I know the serving time earlier…

Conclusion

I don’t want to queue for something like this again. I kinda wondering how people in the oversea even camping in front of the shop 2 days earlier before the iPhone starts selling.