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We are giving out water

economist.com

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Re: We are giving out water

#61

Post by eru »

Groxx wrote: post #5
jolie wrote: post #2

Is it really, really so bad to wait a couple days or weeks longer to get your precious fucking iPhone? I hate queuing in general, but this is the kind of line-waiting that literally makes no sense at all to me.

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.

> Also remember that some of these may be developers, so getting it before their customers could be very important to their bank account.

I'd pay somebody to wait for me in the queue, then.

Re: We are giving out water

#62

Post by jwhitlark »

stevenbedrick wrote: post #51

Well, personally, I agree with the article's interpretation of events... but: does anybody else see the irony inherent to The Economist, of all publications, complaining about something like this? I mean, this is the free market at work, right? Nobody's forcing these people to queue for hours. Both Apple and its customers are making choices based on costs and benefits. Apple, on the one hand, apparently sees financia…

The Economist commenting on current events is also part of capitalism, as is our conversation here...

Re: We are giving out water

#63

Post by hernan7 »

dkarl wrote: post #16

Apple 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…

"It is always nice to be expected, and not to arrive" -- Oscar Wilde

Re: We are giving out water

#64

Post by epochwolf »

alextingle wrote: post #10
epochwolf wrote: post #4

How is this any different from any other high demand product?

It's a phone. That's a class of produce so "in demand" that phone companies give you a new one every year, even if you don't ask for it.

Replace phone with hotdog. I can bet you there is a place in Chicago that has lines out the door. I fail to comprehend how the type of device is relavent to this discussion.

Re: We are giving out water

#65

Post by Groxx »

Tichy wrote: post #25
zackattack wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Just trying to understand. I could understand if the queuing was fun, but as that doesn't seem to be the case? Yes, for 10 hours queuing, you get to be cooler than everybody else for 10 minutes, until the rest of the world has received their iPhones in the mail?

I think the un-funness in this case stems from people not expecting the line in the first place. Movie-campers sometimes literally camp out in line, tent and all. It's a different experience entirely.

Re: We are giving out water

#66

Post by borisk »

ahlatimer wrote: post #37
jolie wrote: post #2

Is it really, really so bad to wait a couple days or weeks longer to get your precious fucking iPhone? I hate queuing in general, but this is the kind of line-waiting that literally makes no sense at all to me.

Did the UK not have pre-order for delivery? I had my iPhone 4 a day earlier than they were released in the store, and I never had to wait in any line or even leave the house.

They don't deliver to hotels, so the guy from Norway was out of luck. Some ppl don't have bank cards or don't trust e-commerce security. Some don't want their partners/parents to know they bought a new expensive toy.

Re: We are giving out water

#67

Post by blahedo »

jsz0 wrote: post #59
ergo98 wrote: post #6

It 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…

Analysts are saying Apple may sell 1.5 million iPhones in the first week. A bit more challenging than 250,000. Anyway when it comes to lines these people made a choice. Apple offered to ship it to their door. They may have actually got it a day earlier if they opted for delivery instead. Even if you preferred local pickup Best Buy's pre-orders were fulfilled by appointment. So these people all had choices. For whatev…

Ok, first of all, that's only a factor of six, not the orders of magnitude you seem to be implying.

And I don't think you can lay this at the feet of the people standing in line unless they were informed when they made their choice that choosing an Apple store would involve five to ten hour queuing outdoors. I'm guessing Apple didn't say that in the order form, in which case the "choice" was one about which they were uninformed, perhaps deliberately so, and Apple remains largely at fault.

Re: We are giving out water

#68

Post by amirmc »

stevenbedrick wrote: post #51

Well, personally, I agree with the article's interpretation of events... but: does anybody else see the irony inherent to The Economist, of all publications, complaining about something like this? I mean, this is the free market at work, right? Nobody's forcing these people to queue for hours. Both Apple and its customers are making choices based on costs and benefits. Apple, on the one hand, apparently sees financia…

It's not quite about capitalism though. Had the people known they would end up in a 6+hr queue they may have decided not to bother.

The fact that they had reservations means they were probably expecting a different experience.

Re: We are giving out water

#69

Post by megablast »

jolie wrote: post #2

Is it really, really so bad to wait a couple days or weeks longer to get your precious fucking iPhone? I hate queuing in general, but this is the kind of line-waiting that literally makes no sense at all to me.

You see the same thing with people who pays thousands for the phone on ebay, rather than wait a few weeks. I too think it is a little crazy, and do not understand it. Some people like to wait in front of apple, I guess. For me, the free water and cofee was not enough.

Re: We are giving out water

#70

Post by megablast »

Tichy wrote: post #25
zackattack wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Just trying to understand. I could understand if the queuing was fun, but as that doesn't seem to be the case? Yes, for 10 hours queuing, you get to be cooler than everybody else for 10 minutes, until the rest of the world has received their iPhones in the mail?

If you were asked at the beginning of the line, are you willing to wait for 10 hours, these people would say no.

Maybe you could read up on sunk costs, if you are actually after understanding, rather than being a dick.

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