The iPod mini brought as many as 1,500 people to wait in line in Japan the first day the units went on sale, according to a report at MacCentral Saturday. The iPod mini went on sale in Japan this Saturday after a delay of many months. The delay was due to demand in the US coupled with supply issues concerning the unit’s hard drive. From MacCentral:
At 9 a.m., an hour before the store opened, the line was estimated to stretch around 300 meters and number some 500 people. However, this had grown to 1,500 people by the time the store opened, according to Apple’s estimates.
First in the queue was a young man who had been waiting since 8:30 p.m. on Friday evening and perhaps had not anticipated the media attention that being at the head of the line would bring. "I’ve been here since 8:30 yesterday evening, that’s all I’m saying," he was heard repeating each time he was asked by reporters for his name or where he had come from.
There’s much more in the full story, including images from the event, and quotes from Apple execs on hand for the event. We recommend it as a very good read.
The Mac Observer Spin:
1,500 people waiting in line to buy anything at Apple’s Japanese Apple Store is simply an unqualified success. Japan remains Apple’s second biggest market in the world, and it’s important for Apple to be able to push its brand in any way that it can.
It would seem that the company is definitely doing so, and remember that Apple doesn’t yet have an iTunes Music Store in Japan. If the iPod and iPod mini continue to perform well in Japan without an iTMS, it shouldn’t have any problem maintaining that success once it opens the Japanese music store.
Japanese powerhouse Sony is likely to emerge as Apple’s main competition for music players in both the US and Japan (and possibly in Europe), and that makes Apple’s performance in Japan that much more important. Again, Apple seems to be well-positioned.
Of course, the real question to most Mac Observers is whether we will ever see a halo effect for the Mac platform. So far, there hasn’t been much of a halo in the US (though Mac unit sales are on the rise), but we see more potential for that in Japan. Time will tell, of course, and the bottom line is that anything that helps Apple’s bottom line is good for the entire company, including the Mac division.