I wasn’t there to see it myself, but by the evidence of Piper Jaffray’s headcount, Business Insider’s walking map and BTIG’s video, the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6+ at Apple’s flagship New York City store was a success of monstrous proportions.
The stats:
- A queue of 1,880 customers, 33% more than 2013, according to Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster
- A line that stretched over 12 city blocks, according to Business Insider‘s Caroline Moss
- A video that took BTIG’s Walter Piecyk 6:22 minutes to shoot and captured, at the corner of 5th Ave and 59th Street, what looked like a disorganized mob.
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Both Munster and Piecyk noted the high concentration Asian faces in the crowd. That’s due at least in part to Apple’s rollout strategy.
In 2013, mainland China was among the first wave of countries to get the iPhone 5S and 5C. This year, it’s not on the short list, which has helped fuel demand in China’s moneyed class and a large grey market. Piecyk passed on to his clients one report of prices for the iPhone 6+ in Asia reaching $4,770, a premium of nearly $4.000 over the device’s list price (unlocked).
Below: Piecyk’s video.
[youtube=http://youtu.be/ueZ30WX-TZs]
See also: Video: Lines around the world for Apple’s iPhone 6 (Friday update)
Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter at @philiped. Read his Apple (AAPL) coverage at fortune.com/ped or subscribe via his RSS feed.
