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NZ midnight launch for iPhone 5
Thu, 27th Sep 2012
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Telecom and Vodafone will hold midnight launches of the iPhone 5 across New Zealand tonight, giving Kiwis the first chance to get their hands on the product.

The newly released Apple device will be on sale at four locations through out the country with sales starting from 12:01am.

Vodafone will launch the product in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, with radio DJs from The Edge broadcasting the event live.

The Auckland launch will be held at the company's HQ at 20 Viaduct Harbour Avenue, the launch in the capital will be staged at 358 Lambton Quay, the Riccarton Mall will host the event in Christchurch and the Meridian Mall on George Street will do the honours in Dunedin.

Telecom is holding two North Island events in Auckland, at 167 Victoria Street and Wellington, at 42-52 Willis Street with only one launch in the South Island, also at Riccarton Mall in Christchurch.

The launches will comes days after Apple reported over five million sales of its new iPhone 5 just three days after trading.

Such interest has exceeded the initial supply and while the majority of pre-orders have been shipped to customers, many are now scheduled to be shipped in October.

“Demand for iPhone 5 has been incredible and we are working hard to get an iPhone 5 into the hands of every customer who wants one as quickly as possible,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, earlier this week.

“While we have sold out of our initial supply, stores continue to receive iPhone 5 shipments regularly and customers can continue to order online and receive an estimated delivery date.

“We appreciate everyone’s patience and are working hard to build enough iPhone 5s for everyone.”

Designed to be the thinnest and lightest Apple device ever, the iPhone is already available in the U.S., UK, Australia, Canada among others, becoming available in 22 more countries including New Zealand tonight, with over more 100 countries expected by the end of 2012.

The company released pricing for the device which is available in either white & silver or black & slate and on offer to Kiwis for a recommended retail price of NZD$1049 inc. GST for the 16GB model, NZD$1199 inc. GST for the 32GB model and NZD$1349 inc. GST for the 64GB model.

Will you be queuing at midnight for the new iPhone 5? Tell us your thoughts below.