Early in the morning of November 3rd, 2017 one of Taiwan Observer correspondents set off on a mission to see how release of the new iPhone X unfolded in Taipei City. First, he went to the one and only official Apple store in Taiwan located in Taipei, next to the famous 101 skyscraper building. There he encountered a funny crowd of only three iPhone purchasers. When he arrived there were a few more souls willing to lay their hands on the new gadget but they were quickly discouraged by bothersome rain and presence of a few social media reporters. The remaining group of foreigners were three gentlemen from Korea, Japan, and Mainland China respectively. Two last gentlemen had a quite a good command of English, the man from Korea virtually spoke no English. All the communication with him had to be done through Google translator app what made whole situation quite funny. No Taiwanese buyer was present and at some point a security guard appeared telling everyone to go away and come back at 7 am. This was done after a quick walkie-talkie exchange between him and the control room. His appearance was followed by arrival of three more Apple representatives instructing everyone not to take photos of inside of the mall. Not before a long time all the buyers decided to go elsewhere.
Our correspondent started his ride home and on the intersection of BoAi road and GuiYang street he stumbled across a lonely Chunghwa Telecom shop addressed 168 BoAi road. Outside of the shop there was a family of three with a friend waiting for their four iPhones Xs, and that’s exactly how many iPhones the shop had in stock for the day. On the shop’s wall there was a little note showing what kind of iPhone Xs are available on the day and their specifications. This group of people wasn’t asked by anyone to move an inch, and they enjoyed rather light-hearted atmosphere sitting in their chairs, eating their victuals and downing their alcoholic drinks. What a merry way to wait for your new gadget.
Taiwan Observer 