Wild Cheers and High-Fives Greet iPhone Duo Launch in Osaka

Cheering Apple staff counted down and high-fived customers as the doors opened at the Apple Umeda store in Osaka on Friday, October 23, for the launch of the iPhone Duo, Apple’s first foldable phone.

X user tsuyopon filmed the opening, as a staff member at the glass entrance leads the countdown before rows of employees in blue shirts wave, clap and slap hands with shoppers walking into the store. Only a small number of customers can be seen going inside.

“At Apple Umeda there weren’t many people lining up and it wasn’t very lively, so I’m jealous of Ginza,” the filmer wrote.

In Japan, the iPhone Duo was only available in stores to customers who had already ordered it online, with no walk-in sales on launch day. The phone starts at 364,800 yen, and around 10 to 15 people lined up at Apple Ginza in Tokyo before it opened.

Lines formed at Apple stores worldwide for the device, which costs about $2,000 in the United States. Apple said pre-order demand had been “extraordinary,” and delivery dates for new online orders slipped to late January.