A Polish mobile operator admitted on Friday it had hired actors to stand in line for Apple Inc.'s iPhone in an attempt to generate buzz for the handheld device.
22/08/2008 10:50:42 AM
CBC News
The company, PTK Centertel, which operates under the brand name Orange Poland, said it hired the fake customers to stand in line Friday as the device went on sale for the first time in the eastern European country.
"It was a part of our marketing strategy, the concept was thought up at Orange Poland," the company told the Associated Press in an e-mail. "The aim was to 'warm up' the atmosphere around the launch of the iPhone."
In Canada and other parts of the world, genuine interest in the device led consumers to line up around the block to pay for the iPhone.
Orange Poland, however, is facing added competition from Era, the brand of rival mobile operator Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa (PTC). Era is also scheduled to begin selling the iPhone on Friday. There were no lineups outside Era retail stores, according to numerous reports.
Poland is one of the fastest-growing wireless markets in Europe, according to a February report from IE Market Research, a Vancouver-based research firm. IEMR said Poland's subscriber growth rate is expected to be about 22 per cent over the next three years. Poland has a subscriber base of about 43 million as of 2007, the company said.
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