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We are giving out water

economist.com

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Re: We are giving out water

#71

Post by megablast »

ghshephard wrote: post #23
jrockway wrote: post #11

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

Ironically, apple is actually one of the few companies out there that has licensed one click purchasing from Amazon. (everyone waiting in line, btw, could have chosen to just have their phone shipped to them)

No, not everyone. Apple like to have some stock at the stores, they often stop selling them online. Some people don't have credit cards. Postal service doesn't go to all parts of the UK. etc...

Re: We are giving out water

#72

Post by Flemlord »

Why does Apple get blamed for this? It's the AT&T signup process that takes all the time. I queued for 2 hours for the first iPhone but I walked right into the store for my iPad. The only difference was the lack of AT&T in the process.

Re: We are giving out water

#73

Post by kevinelliott »

I think it would be a difficult task to organize reserved units by time, as the author is implying. What would Apple do? Give you a specific time block of when to be there? Would it be ok to be late by 1 minute due to traffic? Would 20 people be in a particular time block, giving a little buffer. What happens with everyone is a minute late? It takes time to activate these things too, so what about delays in previous customer's transactions that push your appointments back? Ever been to your doctor after six peep ahead of you were late or their appointments ran long?

It's just not sustainable to schedule hundreds of thousands of people into time slots in a given day. Perhaps they could schedule you into thirds of the day, but then people will bitch and moan about that. They could schedule people for specific days, but then you know people will complain about that.

The reality is, most people who want it on launch day, want it on launch day, and as early as possible. They want to wait in a fair FIFO queue, however long it takes to get through it. This is evidenced by multiple years of multiple products delivered by Apple. A few people will complain about everything. If the guy wants one so bad, he can buy one on eBay, or better coordinate his travel arrangements ahead of time, right?

In all sincerity and open-mindedness, how is this Apple's problem when the world wants to buy their product all at once (even if they do emit mind control to cause it)?

Re: We are giving out water

#74

Post by patio11 »

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…

By way of comparison, the Wii launch in my part of Japan was organized with kanban cards and high school student labor. Three cashiers, two pickers, one manager with a clipboard of all reservations and sole responsibility for bowing. They blew through a hundred fifty transactions in 25 minutes. Toyota would have been proud... well, OK, Toyota would have said now do it in 24,but there would have been an edge of pride in it.

Re: We are giving out water

#75

Post by stcredzero »

chokma wrote: post #28
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.

And it's a sad thing when someone's identity hinges upon his being part of the elite, his sports team winning or making lots of money. Those are things to enjoy, surely - but if they get to be cornerstones of your personality, it's time for a reality check. Sure, that is the way life is for many people, but ... to think that Apple intentionally makes thousands of humans waste hours of their life doing something they…

And it's a sad thing when someone's identity hinges upon his being part of the elite

If being one of the elite means she/he is accomplished in something, and that's truly the root of identity, then that's not a sad thing at all.

Re: We are giving out water

#76

Post by stcredzero »

patio11 wrote: post #74
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…

By way of comparison, the Wii launch in my part of Japan was organized with kanban cards and high school student labor. Three cashiers, two pickers, one manager with a clipboard of all reservations and sole responsibility for bowing. They blew through a hundred fifty transactions in 25 minutes. Toyota would have been proud... well, OK, Toyota would have said now do it in 24,but there would have been an edge of pride…

I was working in a Cincinnati bookstore for one of the Harry Potter book releases. I was dressed up as Sirius Black. I think I personally handed out about 250 books at the rate of 3 every 2 seconds, and I was one of only several. We had all of those kids out the door and the doors closed well before 1 am. The kids were entertained by planned activities, and we had the parents come up and pay to get a voucher well ahead of midnight. At the stroke of midnight, it was voucher-book, voucher-book in rapid succession.

That's the way you do it!

Re: We are giving out water

#77

Post by zeraholladay »

zackattack wrote: post #13
Tichy wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Well, that's really just an unfair value judgment.

True, everybody's identity comes from somewhere. The question is, where they get it from? My identity tells me that waiting in line for 6-10 hours for an iPhone is ridiculous ... categorically rejecting it. Life's too short to derive meaning or identity from an iPhone. You shouldn't rationalize by arguing, "Everyone's identity comes from somewhere."

Re: We are giving out water

#78

Post by cmelbye »

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…

I haven't noticed this. I had to purchase a cable from an Apple Store, and I was approached by an Apple employee that had an iPhone with POS software and a credit card reader installed, and I was out of the store in a few minutes.

Re: We are giving out water

#80

Post by URSpider94 »

I pre-ordered mine for shipment from the local AT&T store (would have done it online, but the web site was unusable on pre-order day). It was waiting for me when I got home last night, all I had to do was charge it, activate it and sync it.

This time, it was just luck that I decided not to ask for an in-store appointment. But, next time I'll be sure to take the free shipping FTW.

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