Yeah. This is why I don't buy anything that I can't get from Amazon.
Step 1: find product Step 2: click "2-day one click" Step 3: the product arrives at my house
We are giving out water
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Re: We are giving out water
#12It is pretty surprising that Apple hasn't been called on this cheap PR. Every person standing in line is being used as a stooge by Apple to get press, and the media always abides. This is the first article I've seen yet that points out this obvious exploitation of the Apple faithful. It's positively archaic. Just to be clear, as the article notes the people standing in line RESERVED a phone. They already have their s…
Makes one miss the truly passionate product fans of days gone by:
Re: We are giving out water
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
You see the same sort of thing and worse in new game console launches and (big) movie release dates. People camp out for days sometimes. A few hours is nothing , these Apple fans are either line-n00bs or flat out moderates compared to those. Also remember that some of these may be developers, so getting it before their customers could be very important to their bank account.
Apart from the developers, does it hint at a certain emptiness in those people's lives?
Whatever man. That's an unfair and negative value judgment. Everyone's identity comes from somewhere. For some people it's from being part of the elite Geek crowd. For other people it's their sports team winning. For other people it's their business making millions of dollars.
Re: We are giving out water
#14Yeah. This is why I don't buy anything that I can't get from Amazon. Step 1: find product Step 2: click "2-day one click" Step 3: the product arrives at my house
Completely with you. LOVE Amazon Prime. I just wish that they would let me make a default option to pay with my Amazon Payments balance. It's stupid and discourages me from spending more money. I've complained to their tech support, to developers on HN, yet nothing has been done about it as far as I know.
Re: We are giving out water
#15How is this any different from any other high demand product?
In many similar situations people don't have reservations. Guaranteeing they receive a product requires them to be one of the first people through the door when the store opens. Taking reservations may have created the false impression that one could show up later in the day without the need to wait in a long line.
The other difference I can think of is that in similar situations the manufacturer and the retailer are two completely separate entities. It's more difficult for me to imagine getting angry at Nintendo because Best Buy is making me wait in line.
I don't really see the point in taking reservations if people are going to have to stand in line all day anyway.
Re: We are giving out water
#16Apple loves this stuff. I was in an Apple store a few weeks ago to buy a gift. Aside from the "Genius" Bar, there were five employees helping customers and another two employees fiddling with boxes and displays. There were seven or eight customers ahead of me impatiently waiting to be served. There was a lot of ostentatious yawning, foot-tapping, and watch-checking. In the ten minutes I stayed, the employees on the floor managed to serve and check out four customers. Seven employees, ten minutes, four transactions. That isn't incompetence. That's policy. They're inflating perceptions of their popularity and their importance. If someone can see you without waiting, you aren't important. If you hurry for someone, that makes them more important than you, so don't do it.
My question is, is this ever a good idea? People put up with it because they have to, but what happens when they don't? (I walked out of the store, but I bought the damn iPad online anyway, because it's a Father's Day gift, and I can't tell my mom and sister we're not getting it just because Apple ticks me off. They've never heard of Android, plus my dad is a perpetual noob who needs the most mainstream device available.)
Would people buy less if they were well-treated? That seems to be the premise. Or maybe not -- maybe the abuse is not intended to maximize sales, but rather to intensify loyalty among hard-core fans. That might make sense: banking loyalty and prestige to prepare for a contingency when they have to move clearly inferior products.
Re: We are giving out water
#17This reminds me of a scene several years ago during the PS3 release. At the Metreon in San Francisco, outside the PlayStation Store that has since closed, Sony was handing out not only bottled water but hamburger meals, real hamburger meals, not fast food, to people waiting to purchase PS3s. I wasn't in that line, but I happened to be walking by the Metreon on the way to my destination, which I don't quite recollect. Pretty incredible to juxtapose that with an event like this.
Re: We are giving out water
#18Folks - waiting in line in front of an apple store is part of the experience (I am standing 3 hours back right now in palo alto.). Half of the fun is launch day socializing, enjoying the spectacle, etc...
Seriously, if I didn't want to wait in line, I would have just had them ship me my iPhone. Zero wait.
Re: We are giving out water
#19[deleted]
Re: We are giving out water
#20Apple loves this stuff. I was in an Apple store a few weeks ago to buy a gift. Aside from the "Genius" Bar, there were five employees helping customers and another two employees fiddling with boxes and displays. There were seven or eight customers ahead of me impatiently waiting to be served. There was a lot of ostentatious yawning, foot-tapping, and watch-checking. In the ten minutes I stayed, the employees on the f…
That isn't policy. It's in-and-out at any of the NYC stores, and the one in Rosedale, Minnesota.