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Thousands of people lined up at Apple stores across Canada to get their hands on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus on the first day they became available at retail stores, but not every tech fan left happy.
The Apple store at the Toronto Eaton Centre sold out of gold iPhone 6 Plus cellphones before 7 a.m. on Friday, an hour before the store actually opened.
An Apple employee told the crowd of people who had lined up for the phone at the Eaton Centre overnight that the store was taking orders, but had already sold out of the specific product.
Just a few minutes after 8 a.m., people waiting in line at the Eaton Centre tweeted that all other models of the iPhone 6 Plus were sold out.
Journalists at the Eaton Centre store estimated that there were approximately 1,200 people in the line, which stretched from the Apple store near the Queen Street entrance of the mall, down the hallway and down a flight of stairs to the Shuter Street entrance approximately one city block away.
Approximately 50 people were let in to the store before employees closed a metal grate over the entrance to keep the crowd out. Those waiting in line were let in and out in shifts to prevent crowding around the products.
Crowd control was also needed in Burnaby, B.C., just east of Vancouver, where RCMP were called in to control a crowd of approximately 1,000.
CTV Vancouver reported that the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus sold out in 30 minutes at the Metrotown mall. Other malls in the Vancouver area had long lines of people sitting in lawn chairs, who camped out as early as 6 p.m. on Thursday.
Some in line were accused of trying to make money by offering to sell their brand new phones, or by selling their spot in line. One person advertised their spot in the line at Vancouver’s Pacific Centre for $250.
In Halifax, dozens waited in line, but took to Twitter to boast about the short wait for those who’d already reserved the phones online. Those who hadn’t purchased their phone ahead of time started lining up at the Halifax Shopping Centre at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Heading west, eager iPhone fans lined up outside in Montreal to get their hands on a new phone, bundled in jackets and hunched over hot coffees on a chilly, 6 C morning. The line stretched several blocks down Saint-Catherine Street.
Meanwhile in Ottawa, CTV’s Catherine Lathem reported that hundreds were lined up outside of the apple store at the Rideau Centre, but there was no lineup outside of the Bell store, which also sold the phones.
In Winnipeg, a shipping delay meant buyers had to wait until 10 a.m. CT to get their phones.
Hundreds lined up in Calgary waiting for the Apple store at the Chinook Centre to open at 8 a.m. MT. Photos from CTV Calgary showed people bundled in jackets and sleeping bags, sitting in camping chairs, waiting for the anticipated store opening.
The Apple store at Calgary’s Market Mall was sold out of iPhone 6 models by 9:30 a.m., according to reports on Twitter.
In Edmonton, hundreds lined up starting Thursday at 10 a.m. by 6 a.m., the lineup at Southgate Mall stretched into the parking lot.
Similar trends were seen overseas, where at least 1,000 people gathered outside Apple’s Tokyo flagship store in Japan. In Hong Kong, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were sold out within two hours. Unlucky buyers were told to place pre-orders online, but so many people tried to access the website that there were delays of up to 45 minutes.
Just like in Toronto, the gold iPhone 6 Plus, with its 14-centimetre-screen, was the first to sell out in Hong Kong.
U.K. stores saw lineups of about 1,000 people. In London, the iPhone 6 Plus was sold out at several stores shortly after their 8 a.m. opening. Despite the sell-out, lineups stretched for blocks, local media reported.
The phone was released in just nine markets Friday: the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan.
A second batch of phones will be released next week.
According to the Apple website, the cost of iPhone 6 starts at $749, and the iPhone 6 Plus starts at $859. Prices increase based on the amount of storage, and go as high as $969 for a 128 GB iPhone 6 and $1,079 for a 128 GB iPhone 6 Plus.
