Men Use London iPhone 5 Queue to Raise Money for Charity

Friends from Kent prepared to spend a week in line in aid of Cancer Research UK.

Seeing people line up ahead of the launch of a new Apple product is nothing new, but it seems this year's line for the iPhone 5 is a little bit different. We already know that the first in line in NYC aren't necessarily spending a week in line just to get the new iPhone. Across the pond, at Apple's Covent Garden store, something similar is happening.

The BBC reports that Ryan Williams and Peter King are the first in line at the London location. Like their New York counterparts, they're not there just to get the iPhone 5. However, rather unlike the people in line at the New York store, Williams and King aren't there to promote themselves or a company. Instead, the two men from Kent are using their position to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

According to the Beeb, the guys arrived at Covent Garden on Friday morning with just a mat to sleep on. Since then, a kind passer-by has donated £130 worth of camping equipment. Ryan and Peter plan to buy iPhone 5s on Friday morning. They will then auction the phones off to the highest bidder, donating the money to Cancer Research UK.

The iPhone 5 was announced last week and packs a 1GHz dual-core Apple A6 SoC, 1GB of RAM, up to 64GB of storage, a 4.0-inch Retina display, an 8-megapixel camera in the back with a 1.2-megapixel lens up front, WiFi, and support for 4G LTE. It's due out on Friday.

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Pyree , September 18, 2012 3:43 PM

Good for them. Now this is a legitimate reason to wait on the line to get a phone.
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alyoshka , September 18, 2012 3:56 PM

Hmmm.... if only it were something else.....
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tomfreak , September 18, 2012 4:10 PM

Heres the idea, make Iphone 5 as auction for first week launch, Apple/retailer will collect only the selling price of the phone, any extra from the result of bidding goes to Charity.

well....too bad Apple didnt ask the retailer to do that.
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clubsaucekiller , September 18, 2012 4:21 PM

TomfreakHeres the idea, make Iphone 5 as auction for first week launch, Apple/retailer will collect only the selling price of the phone, any extra from the result of bidding goes to Charity. well....too bad Apple didnt ask the retailer to do that.

We've come full circle - faulting Apple over ridiculous hypotheticals. Keep fighting the good fight.
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halcyon , September 18, 2012 4:32 PM

Why can't we in the US (those that are willing to wait in line for an iPhone, at least) be as noble as this? Shame on us iSheep indeed.
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anonymous@guest , September 18, 2012 4:51 PM

My god . New miracle of the world. Not phone but something closer to god.
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greghome , September 18, 2012 5:03 PM

This is just stupid...........might as well just give your money away directly than to give it to Lord Stevie's Church first
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john_4 , September 18, 2012 5:08 PM

Charity has become big business. Lots of people getting rich by giving themselves large salaries disguised as necessary expenditures (which they never reveal to the public) out of the money they collect in the name of charity/liberalism.
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ohim , September 18, 2012 5:46 PM

just put a bomb at every queue for the iphone 5 ... at least we clear the world from retards a bit. I would understood a line for an item that is rare and limited edition but not for a thing that in 1 month every hipster will have.
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halcyon , September 18, 2012 6:21 PM

ohimjust put a bomb at every queue for the iphone 5 ... at least we clear the world from retards a bit.

...and this is how the kids/teens of the world think today. No wonder the world is in the shape it is.
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back_by_demand , September 18, 2012 6:49 PM

In London, a line of 8 people on the pavement sparked a wave of queueing for the new iPhone 5, after 2 days the queue split up and went home when the first 8 people were identified as homeless people sleeping in the Apple Store doorway and were upsetting passers-by because they stank of piss
...
The queue reformed the next day when they then accurately identified as hipsters and not homeless people
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Pyree , September 18, 2012 7:31 PM

ohimjust put a bomb at every queue for the iphone 5 ... at least we clear the world from retards a bit. I would understood a line for an item that is rare and limited edition but not for a thing that in 1 month every hipster will have.

That would be terrorism.
greghomeThis is just stupid...........might as well just give your money away directly than to give it to Lord Stevie's Church first

Totally see your point, but this may be the only way some people *cough cough mtrlstc hpstr* may actually make a donation.
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rantoc , September 18, 2012 8:14 PM

Some of the isheeps, such a retarded breed to stand in a queue for that time. Its pathetic to say the least. ID crisis or what!?
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jivdis1x , September 18, 2012 8:43 PM

How much money can anyone fetch from the already bloated prices?
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CaedenV , September 18, 2012 9:17 PM

so... 5 days, 24hrs a day, comes to 120 hours. The phone costs what, $700? Let's assume that they quadruple the selling price (it is for cancer research after all, which is the only thing that raises more money and iProduct). So ($2,800-$700)/120hrs= $17.50/hr. This is obviously assuming a perfect world without taxes, and assuming these guys are volunteering their time and are not employees of a nonprofit who are getting paid for all of these hours in line... even if they are volunteering their time there are much easier and faster ways to raise money.
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ohim , September 18, 2012 9:58 PM

PyreeThat would be terrorism. Totally see your point, but this may be the only way some people *cough cough mtrlstc hpstr* may actually make a donation.
You realize i wasn`t talking serious ( given the negative points guess many think i`m an arab on jihad or something), still you have to admit it`s ridiculous to camp days in advance for a stupid phone that`s mostly similar to the old one.
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dtemple , September 18, 2012 10:07 PM

ohimYou realize i wasn`t talking serious ( given the negative points guess many think i`m an arab on jihad or something), still you have to admit it`s ridiculous to camp days in advance for a stupid phone that`s mostly similar to the old one.

Almost as ridiculous as talking about committing terrorist acts on a public forum.
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house70 , September 18, 2012 11:44 PM

I don't want to be cynical, but I am not holding my breath for these guys to come through with this. The world is full with con artists, and one sounds like another trick: say you do this for a charity, then get your phone (and the extra money) and laugh all the way home. Someone needs to keep track of these guys. If they turn out to be legit, kudos; if not...
Charities that I use ( about 5-8 per year) have a track record and they are registered as such. Just sayin'.
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j2j663 , September 19, 2012 4:04 AM

It would be much smarter of them to just auction off their spot in line. Its a pretty safe bet that some iSheep with enough money to upgrade their 4S on the day of the launch has enough money to spend not waiting in line as well. Plus then these guys wouldn't have to spend a dime actually buying the iPhone, let the iSheep do that too.
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schiwing , September 19, 2012 6:29 AM

Halcyon...and this is how the kids/teens of the world think today. No wonder the world is in the shape it is.

Weird, I thought the world was shaped by gravity and rotation...
But since you're such an expert on the matter, I'll take your word for it.

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