Slashdot Mirror
Line Forms At Apple's Always-Open Manhattan Cube
SpectreBlofeld writes "According to EngadgetMobile, a line has formed in front of Apple's flagship Cube store in Manhattan. From the article: 'So word on the street (literally) is that a large number of people are queuing in line outside of Apple's flagship store on 5th Avenue in New York City — keep in mind the Cube is open 24 hours a day. Our intrepid girl-on-the-scene reports that the group is more than 60-deep, though most people seem confused about what they're waiting for, but some believe they're actually camping out for a 3G iPhone.' Prank, or mass hysteria?" I wonder if the crowd already has its own Flickr group set up -- if not, what are they waiting for on that front?
It's apple people. What ELSE could it be but mass hysteria? ;)
Does this remind anybody else of the Eloi gathering to be taken underground by the Morlocks?
"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" - Salvor Hardin
It's funny but when Twitter visited an Apple store, he was the one who got screamed at. So yes, this stuff does happen in real live too.
In corporate America, staff screams at you!
Oh well, good for Apple - they can't make computers fast enough for demand. That's really what this is about and they deserve the marketshare. If only they would be more like Sun about free software.
You know Apple fandom is getting excessive when a product doesn't even need to exist to get hyped...
So the link is "iphone-line-forms-at-apples-flagship-for-absolutely-no-reason." It seems quite obvious that the reason is marketing. Same as when there were lines at Apple stores selling iphones but not at AT&T stores selling iphones.
This post climbed Mt. Washington.
I wouldn't doubt that this UCB or a similar group just screwing with our minds.
People lining up in front of stores in the hope that maybe there will be something for sale that they are after - sounds like the Soviet Union to me!
And the Lord Jobs did address the faithfully assembled masses, saying "Unto you my loyal supplicants I do bestow the bounty of the 3G iPhone, that ye may use it at all times, and in sickness, and in health, and in times of pestilence and low bandwidth, and it shall comfort thee."
And then did the Lord Jobs hand out the Holy 3G iPhone unto the chosen who harkened unto him, and it was good.
They could be buying computers worth purchasing. The hysteria seems to be inside the store.
No calls now, I'm
Maybe it's the same people who pulled off this stunt? http://improveverywhere.com/2006/04/23/best-buy/
To beg for gasoline money.
Even on engadget this was non-news.
Quack, quack.
Did anyone else read that as "intrepid girl-on-girl-scene"?
After that, the rest of the article is something of a blur...
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
It's Improv Anywhere. A friend of mine got an invite for it.
"In case of emergency, break glass. Scream. Bleed to death."
Pouring Cosmopolitans?
Giving away amyl nitrate and lube?
These are MacIdiots, it could be anything.
Jobs is not the only person generating excitement. I'd rather people expected miracles of me than corruption.
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=216934&cid=17629948
Some people are sheep. Others are sheep dogs or wolves.
But most are none of the above.
Debate, social prank? Is that what you call market dominance?
The ILine :)
Cant wait until they perfect cloning.
I've been calling Apple fans lemmings for years. Finally I have clear and irrefutable evidence of herd behavour!
(Hint: This is tongue in cheek humour, you want to mod it funny not troll. Either that or there's nothing to see here, move along. The secret history of star wars says so, so it must be true).
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
"Hi, I'm Twitter! I refer to my^H^Hhimself in the third person! I bother a busy store about products they don't support! I have a journal!"
Are they moaning as well?
Nothing that the British like more than moaning and queuing.
"Trademarks are the heraldry of the new feudalism."
Where I come from "60-deep" is used to suggest a wide frontage crowd x 60 rows back. Say 50 x 60? So I'd expect from your headline to see a crowd of a few thousand at least. View from the front of a rock stadium gig, that sort of thing. What the photos look like are a line of some people one behind the other. Perhaps 60 in total.
Maybe the headline is you're looking for is "a group of 60 people".
Wow, 60 people go to a store in New York. Makes headline. Big village you've got there....
"though most people seem confused about what they're waiting for"
Reminds me of the old saying. "If all your friends are jumping off a bridge..." I guess if you do decide to jump, you could hope to land on people like this!
"Line forms spontaneously at NYC Apple Store" It sounds like a headline on The Onion! I guess we've been at the point where The Onion sounds like real life for some time now.
This looks like a marketing stunt. Note that posts, barriers, and security people for line control were all on hand for this "unexpected" event.
Apple probably isn't even paying them. All they'd have to do is send anonymous text messages for a few of their fanboys, er, customers.
You should always listen to AC posts. They will protect you from teh evil trolls.
please move along.
The fact that they line up for nothing, making them little more than a flash mob...
OR
That this story gets media attention at all and has anti-macheads all in a sweat shouting "sheeple!" and trying to put various political/religious/fanboi spins on the story?
-- Boycott Shell
...line forms at supermarket checkout. More at 11.
There's a line at a store!! Call CNN rightaway!!1!1one!
. . . we'll know for sure, when they all remove their pants . . . and then start screaming for "iPants" . . . http://improveverywhere.com/2008/01/16/no-pants-2k8/
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Meanwhile, at the Sony Style store, 5 blocks away, the glow of HDTVs illuminated the vapid faces of salespeople in tshirts as they stared across the racks over empty aisles. Aisles of laptops, PS3s, CDs and other items went unpurchased, and no one was there to see it.
Brand name computer stores are the outlet for those too weak to resist the urge to make impulse purchases in excess of a month's income. The fact Apple has been able to capitalize on this trend so well speaks to the fetishistic appeal of those shiny laptops and the absence of any real value in their products. Convinced the worth of something that is not even there, people are literally waiting in line to buy nothing.
Truly, they are the dead.
M
Maybe it's just one of these
I'm going to Church because the end is near and Hell hath frozenth overth.
Well, anything could happen.
Did you really say the devil wrote the Koran? That's rather inflammatory and trollish, don't you think?
No calls now, I'm
Windows 7. Hyped because Vista is a failure.
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=216934&cid=17629948
Talk about shoddy journalism by engadget. Where the hell does the line start? Are they just standing outside the store? Is it moving? Is there a theater premiering Indy 4 nearby?
I've never seen people waiting outside of a cube to be assimilated!
A giant fanboy orgy is going to take place inside the cube. Steve Jobs will allow them all the blow him 10 seconds each.
Jokes aside, an Engadget story on slasdot, about Apple, on a queue. I know Apple is worshiped here, but can it go lower than this?
It's been at least 15 years since anyone stood in line for a Microsoft product. CompUSA is notoriously clear of crowd control problems these days.
It's been found out that the line was just a bunch of people wanting to purchase from the incoming shipment of current-generation iPhones...
http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct=us/0-0&fp=483570bb44e45a71&ei=Suo1SMbdJY3q_AG6kIGnCw&url=http%3A//dvice.com/archives/2008/05/mystery_lineup.php&cid=0&usg=AFrqEzdpLsANqWrm6zwUT10e-6PmeMbnHg
Brand name computer stores are the outlet for those too weak to resist the urge to make impulse purchases in excess of a month's income. The fact Apple has been able to capitalize on this trend so well speaks to the fetishistic appeal of those shiny laptops and the absence of any real value in their products. Convinced the worth of something that is not even there, people are literally waiting in line to buy nothing.
Truly, they are the dead.
M Seriously?
First of all, I don't see how the Sony Style comment has anything to do with the rest of your comment, as it is showing a LACK of buyers, rather than supporting your conclusion.
Secondly,
I get the feeling you're parodying some well-known work, but.. I don't know what.
I saw this at the Soho, NYC apple store earlier today. People just getting in line for... what?
Is Apple really going to release a 3G iPhone with no advertising? *rolling eyes*
are the ones going up Steve's nose.
Please note, this is parody. I'm sure Mr. Ballmer said no to drugs a long time ago and never looked back. Really.
It is a historical fact that Mohammad dictated the Koran while in what modern people would call a seizer.
When he came out of his seizer he would look at what had been dictated and declare which verses were from Allah and which were from Satan (the Satanic verses).
You have got to be real credulous to place any value at all in that book. (Beyond its use as Toilet Paper!)
In any case saying it was written by Satan is no more trollish then saying it was written by God. It might be your belief but it is sure to offend someone.
In any case the God I worship doesn't select baby rapers as Prophets.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
I'm reminded of the bank run depicted in the Jungle, only with less panic.
Of course, that scene depicted people with absolutely no disposable income desperate to get their money back in their own hands, whereas--minus the hysteria--this scene depicts people desperate to put their money into someone else's hands. How far we've come.
This sounds to me like the sort of stunt Improv Everwhere might pull.
There's supposed to be a cage fight between Balmer and Jobs with chairs. The odds are running 2 to 1 on Balmer since Jobs is a bit geeky and Balmer has actual chair throwing experience. No one is counting out Jobs, anyone that can nearly quadruple their stock price in a bad market is some one to watch. Also the rumor is Jobs bites.
I mean; when people to queue up to buy something when they're not even sure what it IS that's a whole new level of success.
"Physics is to math as sex is to masturbation." -R. Feynman
Am i the only one who read it as 'Life Forms at Apple's Always-Open Manhattan Cube' ?
Tin Foil Hats which will clearly help these Apple people.
Moved to http://soylentnews.org/. You are invited to join us too!
Maybe Apple's marketing team have beamed Apple ads directly into the minds of these people. And so those already Apple happy fell victim to the ploy.
"Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
I think if there was an announcement of any serious new product it will at the Apple WWDC in June 9-13, 2008 which will be in little over two weeks.
Waiting in a long line for a 1st generation iPhone? No, I'll wait for the next generation (or ever later) that hopefully fixes issues with the 1st generation.
Maybe they got the "code blue" like the Coors commerical.
http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1519704939&channel=1432843613
I love the guy getting the haircut...
The line is formed from people excited about Apple's next Apple/ATnT/CIA project. Once inside the store the sheeple will get a free month of CIA monitored web browsing for agreeing to register for certain privacy-intrusive biometric identifications, i.e. retina scans, palm prints, and butt prints.
Meanwhile, six feet underground, Orwell, Burroughs, Robert Anton Wilson and Thomas Jefferson roll over once again.
This reminds me of a time when some friends and I were in line for a buffer at the Excalibur in Las Vegas, or so we thought. After not moving anywhere for about 5 minutes we noticed most the people in line ahead of us were 18+ year old women. I suddenly became suspicious of this line I was in. I asked the lady in front of me, "Is this the line for the buffet?" To which she rolled her eyes and replied, "Pssh, no!". So we moved closer to the front of the line which later veered off to a theater with a sign advertising the "Thunder from down under" with pictures of scantily clad men. Applying what I learned from my experience, I'm fairly confident that the apple line is really just a hidden line for a Chippendale show.
http://dvice.com/archives/2008/05/mystery_lineup.php
"By the time we got there, the lineup was gone, but a couple of helpful Apple blueshirts told us what was what: It turns out that the lineup wasn't for the widely -- and wildly -- rumored 3G iPhone. The store got a shipment of current iPhones this morning, apparently a rare occurrence these days, and when word got out, some touchscreen-hungry folks got in line to snatch up the few that came in."
>I wonder if the crowd already has its own Flickr group set up -- if not, what are they waiting for on that front?
Well, there's this one
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
Let's see.
The French invented the modern tank in WWI, based on an original idea by the British.
Apple invented the modern WIMP UI in 1981/82, based on an original design by Xerox.
The French didn't really improve their tank after WWI, and were totally taken by surprise by German tank warfare.
Apple didn't really improve their OS after the '80s, and were totally taken by surprise by Microsoft Windows 95.
Yeh, sounds right.
could I get 60 people for next tuesday...
Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
It wouldn't surprise me if the people in line are Apple employee's creating the line just to get the attention they are getting. Most likely for the new iPhone.
GET
A
LIFE!
I mean, really. I've never understood this obsession with Apple. Yes, I own an iPod. I also own a PowerBook, and I recently purchased a MacPro tower. But I don't live and breath Apple. I use the tools because they're good tools.
Apple sells products - they do not sell a way of life, even though they would like you to believe that.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/05/22/apple_seeks_expert_in_wimax_impromptu_5th_ave_lineup_more.html The answer to something seeming perplexing is usually something simple, if the observer has any common sense at all.
What I find hilarious is how, when the iPhone was released, people purchased as many as they could, waited in line for days, etc... all anticipating a shortage. Which never arrived.
I'm guessing that the same thing will happen again. When Apple is making between $200 to $400 in profit JUST from the hardware... I'm guessing El Jobso doesn't want to lose a single sale. The Apple monopoly relies on Mac Fanatics spending as much money as possible every time Apple poops out something with a logo on it. They aren't going to give people a chance to consider whether they REALLY want to buy or not- it's all impulse purchase all the time.
Seriously, I feel like I'm missing something. All these posts saying that $POSTER is really Twitter: how do people know (or think they know) that it is so?
Hail Eris, full of mischief...
E pluribus sanguinem
they would still form a 60 man deep line queuing outside the Apple box ...
Read radical news here
Turns out the line was actually for the store bathroom, after the New York Times deemed it the "cleanest in Manhattan". Unfortunately it did not live up to this moniker for long.
Cool, now Apple fanatics have officially reached the lows of Trekkies and Star Wars geeks. All we need now is for Steve Jobs to walk out of the store and give them the "William Shatner/SNL GET-A-LIFE" speech and then the universe will implode. Has Apple Chic now become Apple Geek?
From the article "P.S. That's a live photo. One more after the break."
Can someone please explain to me what a live photo is, and how it differs from a dead photo?
Whatever happened to the old Apple fanboys who were just plain weird? Nowadays, their hubris is starting to go to their head.
Makes me want to cover the Apple logo on my computer and keep VMWare in the front.
I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
Whispers are circulating concerning a new Apple offering, to be known as the "iNull". Apple's latest tech blockbuster is said to involve no hardware or software, will not be offered as an online service, will not be encumbered by DRM, and in fact will have no actual existence at all, either physical or virtual.
"Apple will change the way we look at nothingness as a society," said one industry insider. "This is game-changing. Everything you think you know about nothing is going to be swept away."
Mac enthusiasts are eager to be among the first to have an iNull, despite the inherent philosophical difficulties in "having" one. "I can't wait!" blurted one blogger, "Apple has once again shown how they 'think different'. In a world of gadgets, doodads and useless techno-gimmickry, they've brought forth something of unrivaled simplicity and elegance. Way to go!"
From a business perspective, the profit potential is limitless -- the iNull will have the lowest production cost of any Apple product to date, requiring no manufacturing, shipping, or inventory, although there will be a "significant" marketing campaign. Of the $499 price tag, Apple is expected to reap the lion's share as pure profit, with an unspecified percentage paid out as a licensing fee to the Sartre estate.
Soylent Green is peoplicious!
I think this kind of smells of improv everywhere. Getting a group of people to do something strange, baffling strangers just by their sheer numbers. Google them, they've set up quite a few nice 'missions' so far.
i honestly thought this /. story was a joke.
I'm glad some slashdotter has been waiting in in front of the apple store just in case something happens... inevitably attracting passersby who stop to witness the happening you're apparently waiting for.
Your argument may seem convenient and pat, but
:-)
:-)
There's something cool called the "time value of money". There's also a unique property to the PC industry, which is a trend toward exponential improvement.
If you save $1000 today, it's actually worth a lot more compounded over 5 years from now. Not to mention the value in more frequent hardware replacements in an industry where exponential improvement is the norm.
Given accepted rates of return on things like index funds (10%), you could spend $1000 every 2 years, instead of $2000 every 5 years... You would have two brand new machines during that time on the same budget and have a bunch left over at the end. The only thing you miss out on is the first two years of having a 50% superior machine, if we arbitrarily call your $2000 Mac (we'll go wild) "50% better" than the $1000 PC when it was brand new.
The neat thing is that if you spend $1000 every two years rather than $2100 every five years, those last three years, you would have a far superior machine.... so... for more than half of the 5 year life cycle, you would have vastly superior machine... of course it does involve delayed gratification.
OK, lets do the numbers. I can hear your ears turning red.... or perhaps your eyes are glazing over. I don't care. Keep reading.
Even assuming Macbooks hold their value better (lets use some numbers and assume the PC depreciates at exactly 40% per year and the mac at exactly 30% per year), your 2nd $1000 PC purchase would cost you $640 after the trade in of your 2 year old PC (which was then worth $360). Your initial $1000 savings is now also worth $1331, which you can spend on that PC. So you have a brand new computer in the second year and $691 in the bank. Two years later, you replace it again, getting a trade in and paying $640 for a machine 8 times (exponential for 4 years) faster than your original box. Again, your initial savings on the purchase means that you don't have to put down any money. Your $691 could now be valued at $836, so even after you THIRD purchase (8 times faster than the original), you still have $196 in the bank. Upon reaching the 5th year, you evaluate your position.
Your $2000 Macbook is worth about $340 since it's 5 years old (30% per year).
Your $1000 PC is actually your third one you got with the same money. It's currently worth $600 (40% per year). You also have $215 in the bank from the leftovers after the trade-ins and compounded interest.
Lets say your $2000 Mac was.. we'll go wild and say it's 50% "better" than the $1000 PC when it was brand new. Today, you have a 1 year old PC that's valued at about $600 and is generally about 6 times faster (presumably "better" in most ways) than your 5 year old Mac. You didn't spend any additional money during the entire process but you got a new PC every 2 years.
Now, this argument is TOTALLY IRRELEVANT for someone who considers "money is no object", since they will simply buy the best AND replace it yearly. But for someone on an obviously restricted budget, it's simply silly to argue that you're saving money. In fact, it's a lie.
If you want to argue that the PC is so infuriatingly poor that you simply can't use it during those first two years.... there is nothing I can say and you are entitled to that opinion.
But you wanted to make some sort of kooky economic argument.....
epic fail.
Of course, this all falls apart if you're the type who will spend your spare cash on lotto tickets rather than putting it in an interest bearing account as I've assumed above....
Which is also entirely possible.
Hey, anything is possible!
o.0
(_)
If your current iPhone is so fsking awesome, why are you queueing days for a new one?
erroneous: look me up in a dictionary
Quoting from a recent slashdot-referenced article: "Government is an industry with a really high barrier to entry," he said. "You basically need to win an election or a revolution to try a new one. That's a ridiculous barrier to entry. And it's got enormous customer lock-in."
So Microsoft is like Eastern Europe if the Soviets had won the cold war?
Ah, I wouldn't know. There's a certain advantage to talking to yourself. For a start, you have more common topics than with anyone else, although that's somewhat offset by the fact that you're not going to hear anything you didn't know already. It also takes all the fun out of telling jokes, lemme tell you.
You're also almost guaranteed to have the same moods at the same time. When you're in a mood to go see a movie, for example, so are you. I mean it's not like you're in a mood to watch the game, while you would rather talk about moving the furniture instead. No need to nod absentmindedly and go "uh-huh". Which is just as well, because you'd know it anyway. And when you're depressed, you can always cry on your own shoulder. (Come to think of it, more of the people on the Internet should be encouraged to use their own shoulder for that;)
And if you want to call yourself to dinner, but you're still at the last boss in a MMO raid... well, chances are you'll find a way to accomodate and understand yourself.
You can also save yourself not just the phone bill, but also the internet bill. You can just use Notepad as IRC, IM and pretty much any other text chat medium rolled in one. And you know you can accept any files or attachments. Heck, even if you sent yourself a virus, you had it already anyway.
Buying gifts for yourself is fun too. It takes all the guesswork out, and it's not like you'll buy yourself a tie you'll secretly hate but pretend to like so you don't offend yourself. Downside, it ruins the whole surprise big time. Plus side again, it'll probably be something both you and you can use, and you won't get into ownership disputes about it.
Romance tends to not work too well, though.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
This is rubbish. There wasn't a line at all when I purchased my stuff yesterday night at 11pm in this store.
Stand 60 people in-line before an Apple Store and wait how many +5 hate-posts you get on Slashdot.
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
No, you are submissive, dogmatic, and base much of your identity on a brand for consumer products. You are the shame of Mac users.
Has anyone else noticed the similarity between Apple fanboys and Republican freepers?
Think about it:
Criticism of the (product or company | party or policy) is seen as personal attack.
Criticism of the fearless leader is seen as a personal attack.
Both groups consider themselves tiny voices of truth being attacked by a horde who constantly censors them.
Both groups employ talking points which are repeated ad nauseam with little variation.
Of course, the result of this mentally is that people enjoy baiting them.
Yuppies line up for itoys
Haitians line up for bread
Workers to power!
"though most people seem confused about what they're waiting for"
Mindless Apple drones. Jobs has you all brainwashed.
If only Wozniak was still at the company. "
__________
Ever notice how Microsoft fans do not feel the need to bash on Apple every chance they get. Think about it.
(although this time I did)
I'll try anything once. Twice if it tastes good
Ever notice how Microsoft fans are too chicken (with rare exception to parent) to bash Apple fans directly and instead take the 'Microsoft/fans don't (insert claimed Apple fan behavior)' route. Think about it.
I own an iBook G4, which I bought new in 2003. I also have an HP Compaq nc6220 laptop that was issued to me by my employer in 2006.
The iBook has travelled with me to Alaska, Palau, and on numerous shorter trips around the U.S. It's had a glass of white wine spilled on the keyboard. Its battery is almost totally dead, but other than that it still works great for Web, office, and web design work. The $1200 or so I spent on it is still providing value.
The HP has travelled with me pretty much between home and office, and a few short trips. Today the case is obviously more flexible than it was new, and when it flexes I get the infamous BSOD. As a result I can only use it on a flat table top. On top of that it has developed a nagging driver problem that makes sleep and lower-power modes problematic. It cost my employer around $2000 and is in the process of being replaced now.
When my iBook goes I will almost certainly get another Apple.
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
iDoToo
I probably would have modded you up Insightful if I had points.
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
They have no idea what they're doing but figure they have to do it simply because it's Apple.
I hope it turns out to be nothing and they all get charged for loitering.
Well aside from performance art or a great trick one reasonable explanation is that they have some kind of inside tip that they can't reveal, i.e., signed NDAs, or were just told by people that 'something' would come out.
I think the easy way to check if this is just random fucking around or knowledge of a new product launch (which one would think would happen at more than one store) is to check out how much money the people in line have. If they are dirt poor college students they may not being buying much.
If you liked this thought maybe you would find my blog nice too:
"...though most people seem confused about what they're waiting for..."
So idiots line up at an Apple store, what else is new? How is this News?
"Line forms spontaneously at NYC Apple Store" It sounds like a headline on The Onion!
Or simply another Improv Everywhere stunt like the 80 blue shirts that showed up at a local Best Buy.
http://improveverywhere.com/2006/04/23/best-buy/
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/rawfisher/2006/05/best_prank_of_the_year_so_far.html
The truth shall set you free!
Actually, I agree with a lot of others - there are two possibilities that immediately pop into mind:
1) It's just the Cult of Steventology (again)
2) It's Improv Everywhere or some other form of street theater.
The Digital Sorceress