or How I bought my unlocked iPhone 5S Gold in SEOUL, on the day of its Official Korean release – to the tune of Dr.StrangeLove OR How I learned to STOP worrying and love the Bomb !
Yes, THE iPhone 5S Diary : there was issue about leading Korean iPhone fan group members flying to Australia to get the first iPhone 5 on the Pacific Ocean – they were behind a dozen-or-so older group supposed from a Korean conglomerate WITH body-guards ?! Yeah perhaps THEY thought they were doing something hanky-panky .. but it is just NOT in the Korean psyche – more on this as a dedicated Page on top menu – to line-up in queue, perhaps because everyone thinks they are so intelligent to con the next-guy in line – immediately noticeable once the bus arrives at the stop, quite a different scene than neighboring Japan or Taiwan .. China that’s a different story : much like the Koreas .
more people did when iPhones and iPads were beginning to land on Korean shores, although a good TWO years later after it was introduced World-Wide . but the hype has faded, more-so since many have revered to SamSung’s Galaxy camp – extensive reasoning revealed throughout this BLog . so about a dozen started forming in line in the wee-hours well after mid-night on the day of its Official Korean release on Friday October 25th 2013 . Oh, THE place to line-up in all of South Korea is in the Capital of SEOUL, more precisely in the heart of its classic fashion-center a MyeongDong, where the Frisbee, the first Apple Premium or what-ever ReSeller opened a branch large enough to accompass a whole building (although small, NOT many are in the old downtown area of prime Real Estate). there-after opening NOT one but two additional branches in the newer prime Real Estate area South of the Han River in KangNam (don’t bother calling any one of the two/three for availability as they notoriously don’t receive phone calls during iPhone/iPad release dates, although they are virtually empty at other times – reflecting the sad receding demographics of iPhones and iPads in the Korean Peninsula).
and aside from Apple’s only Official Store in Korea which is On-Line, they were going to sell unlocked iPhone 5S’s . most Frisbee branches (out of 6 in the Capital and 4 more in larger Korean cities) open at 11am, but in anticipation of line-up for this iPhone 5S : its main MyeongDong AND KangNam branches were going to open earlier at 8am, at which time almost 100 were forming . at 9am reports came-in the two branches were beginning to run-out of Gold . but there were further possibilities as the other branches would have it when they open at 11am. however as a hidden-card : its iFC Mall branch normally opens at 10am, and considering iPhones are hyped by students and younger businessmen, this rather new building was located in a transit island linking downtown SEOUL and its Western rather-humble neighborhood of YeongDeungPo – so NOT convenient in traffic and a business centre as opposed to all campus and trendy districts the rest of Frisbee branches were located in, ditto iPhone and iPad fans . nor is it even comparable to the huge genuine Apple Store that first opened September 2011 in iFC Mall, Hong Kong .
iFC, like other sky-scrapers on major metropolis around the Globe is supposed to be international finance centre, but is quite new in SEOUL, so not even taxi drivers know its location – instead to pin-point a triangle : between LG Twin Tower to its North, MBC BroadCasting TV Station to its East and Yoido Subway Station to its immediate South . and its Mall is actually all under-ground going a mere THREE levels below with the last mostly Western and fusion restaurants and take-outs .
Frisbee branch is located in the middle of lower 2nd Level, and is virtually empty when it opened as usual at 10am, making you wonder “Where Have All iPhone Fans Have Gone ?” to the tune of “Where Have All The Flowers Gone ?” some people stated coming an hour later at 11am but not enough to form a line yet . there-after this place is big enough with ample modern, art-piece-like side-walk benches for you to saddle-down and wonder over your new-bought magic device 😉
on the same floor awaits a quite-large branch of one of the three largest book-stores in South Korea : YoungPoong MunGo, with considerably small portion of English and Japanese publication than their competition Kyobo and Bandi’n’Luni’s . but as any other larger book-stores with international section : my favourite is the cozy, quiet coffee shop area in the middle . book-stores are quite a-Live in South Korea mainly for no company has made a revolution migrating to eBook as a whole, and more-over the harsh and dreadful ritual for Junior and High School students alike in Asian counties : to prepare for college exam is all done through paper-books .
but this is NOT all, for this under-rated, comparably smaller shopping complex has one of the leading sound system-enhanced CGV movie theatre AND forgiving restaurant floor below on lower 3rd Level 😉 with central food court aptly named Prestige Food Empire, as this is an island mostly for larger business, although its HanYang Apartments was one of the earlier to set SEOUL’s apartment craze just when military dictatorship gave way to supposed democracy in this once-Land of the Morning Calm ..
[ EPILOG ]
both of Frisbee’s larger branches, mainly its head-quarters in MyeongDong and two facing each other at KangNam (actually ShinNonHyun Subway Station) still (barely) had iPhone 5S Gold left after lunch time, and many others in SEOUL including HongDae and GwonDae branches in college campus intersections still had them by dinner time . in stark contrast its rural branches like even DaeJeon, the closest one to the Capital was virtually empty even on opening time 0o0 shows to tell how the Galaxy has re-gained momentum after a curiosity-punch from intrigued consumers on earlier models of iPhones and iPads .
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– another up-to-the-minute Diary LIVE from an impeccable business complex
by Korea Tech BLog –
