Would you wait in line for hours to buy the latest iGadget?
Summary: Some people waited in line for hours for the chance to buy the iPhone when it first came out. With the prospect of another big Apple launch coming out way, it's a sure bet that people will end up doing the same thing for whatever Apple unveils on Wednesday. Will you?
Some people waited in line for hours for the chance to buy the iPhone when it first came out. With the prospect of another big Apple launch coming out way, it's a sure bet that people will end up doing the same thing for whatever Apple unveils on Wednesday.
Will you?
Blogger Robert Scoble says he will. He and his son waited in line at the Palo Alto Apple Store for some 38 hours to be the first to get an iPhone. And he says he'll be in line again, no matter what Apple announced later this week.
I will do it again for WHATEVER Steve Jobs introduces on Wednesday.Yes, I am a fanboi.
We live in an economy of plenty, where we don't need to stand in line for hours for the basics survival. I can't for the life of me understand why someone would willingly do that for a shiny bit of tech.I'm gonna come right out and say it - I don't get it. I'm all for bonding sessions and get togethers, but the idea of that event being centered around tech doesn't work for me. Maybe I've just handled too much tech and the thrill's worn off, or maybe it's that I can think of better things to do with my time.
I'm not saying that people who want to stand in lines for hours waiting to be the first (or the first of many) to have something are wrong, it's just that I don't see why I need to prove something to myself or other by wasting hours of my time in a line. Especially for mass market consumer electronics, when tomorrow or next week the transaction is going to be quick and painless (and costs far less if you factor in time saved). Better still, get it delivered.
We live in an economy of plenty, where we don't need to stand in line for hours for the basics survival (if you did, I'm sure the complaints would be loud). If I don't need to do that for food or water or medical supplies, I can't for the life of me understand why someone would willingly do that for a shiny bit of tech.
Just to be clear here, I apply this rule across the board, and not just to Apple products. Games consoles, games, books, software, movies, other gadgets ... there's nothing I'd stand in line for hours for.
What about you? Will you be standing in line? Why? Why not?
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Talkback
Two thoughts...
Second.... There's an interesting dichotomy going on in the tech world right now. There's more and more of a push toward "Open Source". Every third article on ZDNet is complaining about the lack of support on the Kindle for third party apps and talking about an SDK so developers can write apps for this proprietary device (among others) and espousing the benefits of Android, while people are lining up by the hundreds of thousands for a device built by Mac.
I'm just noticing the difference.
Some people are enamored by shiny baubles
Apple users!!
The one Apple exception
Still, I agree that most people should avoid 1G tech.
RE: Would you wait in line for hours to buy the latest iGadget?
nope!
apple admirer
products but i would never stand in line for a new product or
cheer and give high fives to random store workers at an
apple store opening. i don't get it eighter.
No
hours to buy
it on release day. I like to do my homework
first and
research what I am buying before hand. And if
it is
something I don't "need", then I will not buy
it all
together.
I read an article on CNN last night of an
interview with another Apple fan, that I
couldn't help but cringe at. The interviewee
told CNN, he lets Apple decide for him what his
technology needs are. He also goes on to
describe how he bought an iPod before he even
knew what it was.
While it may be "cool" for you, I have monetary
worries to think of before I buy things. If
that is all you are going to do with your
money, could you please throw some my way?
Here is the link BTW:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/01/25/apple.fans/i
ndex.html?hpt=Sbin
RE: Would you wait in line for hours to buy the latest iGadget?
2. I can't seem to get on the tech tread mill. By the time I have waited a few months, a brand new shiny product launches. The Droid released and then a bunch of other android phones released, then the Nexus on came out a few months after that.
3. I buy the tech that fits my application, even if that application is entertainment. I wanted to play some games, I found a console that played the games I wanted to play. I need a computer for e-mail, office productivity, Internet, and media streaming (I watch television online rather than a real t.v.), so I bought a computer that did all of those things.
4. I don't like crowds of people. I can deal with them when I have to (morning commute through NYC) but spending a Friday->Sunday camp out with 50,000 people in line for a gadget just doesn't light any fires in my heart.
5. I will see movies as soon as they hit theaters. I like seeing a movie on a movie sized screen with the sound equipment in the theater. I also watch movies on my computer but I really like the movie theater experience. If I like a movie well enough I might go back and see it while it is still in theaters. However, I have never had to wait more than 1 hour to see a movie at a theater.
Restaurants
About the only thing I would wait in line for are once in a lifetime type events - playoff tickets, concert, etc. As quickly is tech cycles, it's just doesn't make sense to wait in line for it.
RE: Would you wait in line for hours to buy the latest iGadget?
for anything, not even a shiny new bauble with an Apple
on it. But then, hey, I'm old. I grew up with the events of
the late sixties and early seventies. I've got slides I took at
the May Day Moratorium March in D.C. in '70 where about
250000 people were lounging about. I've had enough
crowds. Like the man said, I don't wait more than five
minutes at a restaurant for a table. Food is never 'that'
good. Neither is any Apple product so good that I can't
wait for it without standing in line. I don't get the cult of
line sitters.
RE: Would you wait in line for hours to buy the latest iGadget?
Apple will announce iLife and iWork 2010 that will get ordered ASAP the rest of the stuff will wait (most will onloy be announcement of future stuff) I have waited a couple of week to order a MacAir to see if it get any bump in memory or a 256GB SSD.
ABSOLUTELY NOT
#2- New iGadgets are usually obsolite just weeks after it is out on the market.
#3- Most iGadgets drop in price after a month or two.
#4- You don't know how crappy an iGadget really is until you read the user's review.
RE: Would you… ? A: Inferior Complex