Brandie Ratliff drove an hour and a half to buy a new iPhone on Friday, with two toddlers in tow.
"We got straight in the car," she said. "I didn’t give them breakfast."
At first, Ratliff and her daughters went to the AT&T store in their home city, Palatka, but the phone Ratliff wanted — the new Apple iPhone 6s Plus — wasn’t in stock there, she said.
So, she drove down to Archer Road, and by 11:30 a.m., she had a rose gold iPhone 6s Plus in her purse.
On Friday, Apple released its latest line of iPhones, the 6s and the 6s Plus, to store shelves around the globe, boasting faster speeds and a crisper camera among other improvements.
"Our customers are very satisfied with the new experience and with the launch," said Karen McAllister, an AT&T spokeswoman.
However, in Gainesville, the hype didn’t compare to last September when the iPhone 6 was released.
According to a sales associate at Best Buy, 100 people came by the store on the first day in 2014 to buy the new phone. But this year, with only four or five people waiting outside when the store opened at 8 a.m., the employee expected less than 50 people to come.
Vincent Adison had set his alarm for 6 a.m., hoping to beat the crowds and buy himself a new phone, but the 22-year-old missed his mark by about 6 hours.
By noon, when Adison actually woke up, the AT&T and Best Buy stores at Butler Plaza no longer had the 6s Plus model he wanted, but he still needed a new phone.
"My phone was malfunctioning," the New York University graduate said Friday. "So I just got the regular 6s, and I’m actually satisfied with it."
Despite the buzz over the new phones, some aren’t interested.
Denise Chirila, a UF marketing graduate student, was due for an iPhone upgrade Friday, but decided instead to opt for last year’s model, which she says is cheaper and still effective.
"I don’t really care for new technology," the 21-year-old said. "I just want a non-cracked phone."
