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Apple iPhone 6 Creates Market Stir

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- People lined up outside Apple stores Thursday night and even during the day on Friday just to get Apple's latest smartphone -- the iPhone 6.

"Don't want to wait another month to get it. I want to get it today," said Austin Scheier of the South Side.

And Apple customers really seem to want the latest Apple.

"It's really cool-looking. It's really easy to use. It's like updated. My other phone was getting kind of old," added Bonnie Weibel of Lawrenceville.

So what is it about the iPhone 6 that makes it special?

Professor Anind Dey, director of Carnegie Mellon University's Human-Computer Interaction Institute, says the iPhone 6 is better than the 5.

"It's a faster phone. It has a lot more features. You can use it to pay more efficiently. The larger screen is wonderful. Better camera. So they've upgraded a lot of the basic core facilities," said Dey.

But the professor says Apple is really just playing catch-up with other smartphones like Android.

"In many ways you can say there is not a lot new," Dey told KDKA money editor Jon Delano. "Many of the core facilities exist in other phones that are not iPhones."

Whatever the downside to the iPhone 6, the folks in line on Walnut Street in Shadyside sure don't see it. They've been waiting in line a long time. In fact, it will take them two hours to get in to buy their phone.

Naomi Buettner of Oakland waited in line at least that long.

Delano: "Is the iPhone 6 worth it?"

Buettner: "Absolutely, absolutely, or I wouldn't be waiting in line here if it wasn't."

And Apple lovers swear by their products.

"I've bought the iPhones for years, and it's always lived up to the hype," said Dante DiMatteo of Monroeville.

Computer gurus like Dey admire the way Apple hypes its products -- cutting edge or not -- so successfully.

"They have this way of just encouraging a lot of people to be excited about their products. And it's exciting. It really is exciting to see," Dey said.

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