It's already begun: iPhone 3G line starting in New York City - Page 3

Holy shit that's a terrible comparison.

After 5,800+ posts, would have hoped you'd figured out multi-quote by now.

Or maybe, that's how you reached 5,800 posts.

This is probably exactly what will happen every day over the next week. I suspect these people are there by their own initiative but if they were paid by Apple - say $1000.- per 24 hrs it would be the marketing bargain of a lifetime for anyone BUT Apple. For approx $100 000.- they get editorial coverage on just about every news channel in the land (and beyond, I am sure)! The fact that they most likely pay nought is truly amazing and must rile their competitors. The flip side is that these people in line give the impression that Apple users are, how shall I put it? super nerdy, a little desperate and quite insane (I mean, how great can a phone be?). But this is a minor blip in the marketing freebee Apple is getting. Besides, Americans are used to people lining up to go on TV shows to embarrass themselves and air all their dirty laundry in public. By comparison the people in line for an iPhone strike me as wholly reasonable.

This is exactly why I hope they are getting paid to do this rather than being out there on their own accord. This is really embarrassing. It is stuff like this that makes Americans look dumb for the most part. Please, oh please let Apple's money be somewhere involved.

just observing here that waiting in line for the first iphone was stupid also. it was still just a phone.

http://www.geardiary.com/2008/07/04/...hone-3g-style/

Some pictures and stuff, apparently there is a man, woman and baby in line... absolutely ridiculous :o

A sidewalk of misguided people. Truly sad. Says quite a bit about the mental state of the US, but then again, if for a fleeting moment, something as simple helps to reliever the crapper that has become many peoples lives then so be it, but it is still sad to see.

No doubt people are off their rocker now. I like Apple too but people PLEASE focus on non-materialistic issues. I'm not too proud of being human at the moment.

Well, forsome of us, there are great advantages, for example, I am lucky enough to live in a 3g saturated area...I have yet to find a carrier who doesnt have good 3g coverage here...(Indianapolis (inside the 465 loop...)) and the wifi based locations tracking SUCK DONKEY BALLS in Indiana (I on multiple occasions have seen the entire city circled when I click the where am i button.), whereas the GPS will be accurate...


Also, sold my phone for $250 so that leaves me enough to get the phone, with tax, and $24 in apps...so why not...

maybe

You are missing the point! And your arrogant indignation is getting tiresome...

Camping out for an iPhone has as much to do with iPhone lust as spending a week in the mountains fishing has to do with loving to eat fish.

There are much easier and cheeper ways to get fish. But the thousands of people who spend their entire vacation fishing are not stupid--they enjoy the process.

I am quite certain that those people in line are there to enjoy the process. Sure, they want the iPhone--I am not claiming that there is no materialism involved at all--but they know there are easier ways to get one.

You may as well make fun of anybody who spends time doing something you have no interest in doing. People dedicate their free time to an infinite assortment of odd things from making balls of string to collecting bugs to playing sports to following a sports team to reading internet message boards and the list could go on forever. In the long run, most of these people are probably doing this for a one time kick.

People are complaining that there is a family in line? WTF? That family will spend more time together than if they went on a cruse or a trip to the shore--and for the cost of food and two iPhones!

I say again, if they are having a good time and not hurting anyone then you are risking being a jerk to make fun of them.

Actually, we may all be missing the point....
http://www.WaitingForApples.com/

I will be camping out that night in front of a telechoice store... but I live in Australia, and from what Optus have posted me by email it seems perfectly reasonable - they sold out their entire stock with just the holding deposits beforehand. So camp out I will... but not for a week - thats ridiculous

That's completely ridiculous, the phones will eventually get sold. The people who don't want to wait now will probably willing to wait later. It's not like someone is going to say, "fuck it, it's going to take me 20 mins to get my phone, I'll just go over here and spend just as much time waiting to get a Blackberry."

The phones will get sold, but maybe not in a single, blowout weekend or something.

Look at the chick in the line, and the dudes...I bet you $20 that none of them even own an Apple product nor know what an iPhone is.

The point of these vane idiots is to get their 15-minutes of fame. They're in NY. They're aspiring actors and are looking for some exposure.

Standing in line for a week in NYC with a baby should be illegal. Unreal. Where is the department of social services when you need them?

The baby thing is sick in this heat. I don't think the baby will be out there all week.

I have good contacts in New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong and Australia who tell me that the phone will probably run out of stock there soon after launch. We'll see. New Zealand launches 12.01 am on July 11th, which is 19 hours ahead of the earliest time a California store will open, assuming CA stores will open just after midnight. Apparently SoftBank's CEO has predicted a launch day sell-out and Optus in Australia maxed out its unit allocation on pre-orders alone. Maybe there's more to this than just hype.

If CA stores open at 8am on July 11th, that's a full 27 hours after New Zealand! We'll have a pretty good idea how fast the hot cakes are selling in Asia. Tokyo and Hong Kong are only 3-4 hours behind New Zealand.

Can't wait!

Good point. That would just be criminal... not to mention virtually impossible.

I think the really interesting iPhone 3G story will be Japan. SoftBank is more than just a cellphone company; it is Japan's largest internet operation. It controls Yahoo! Japan which is twice as large as Google with more than 60% share in Japan. Yahoo! Japan is also dominant in online auctions and online retail in a way that eBay and Amazon can't match. SoftBank also owns a large share in Alibaba, one of China's largest B2B internet companies.

Apple and SoftBank are extremely well-placed to leverage their relationships with each other. DoCoMo may be the largest player in the cellphone business but it lags SoftBank in the internet services that matter. SoftBank has sufficient infrastructure to be a viable competitor because it owns a high-speed ADSL network and fixed line services that complement its content offerings on Yahoo! Japan.

Apple needs SoftBank to bring the true power of the internet to mobile in Japan. Yes, there were Japanese mobile phones that had internet long before iPhone but the way they worked did not allow multi-channel development. Separate development teams were heavily needed for PC content and mobile content. SoftBank has established a reputation for great pricing but is placing iPhone as a premium product. Its CEO Masayoshi Son, cut his entrepreneurial teeth in the Bay Area and is truly a peer to Steve Jobs in pushing boundaries. It comes as absolutely no surprise that Apple cut the first deal with them. Son has been talking about exactly this kind of vision for more than a year.

Masayoshi Son will be crucial to iPhone's roll-out in China, particularly its business applications for SMEs and together Apple and SoftBank can develop a unique mobile content ecosystem in Japan and China. I'm more excited about iPhone 3Gs launch in Japan, Hong Kong and Australia than I am about any other launches.

I've explained my reasons for Japan. For Hong Kong, the first-generation iPhone was heavily adopted and is a well-loved, credible device. The subscription plans announced in Hong Kong for iPhone are some of the best in the world so I expect official adoption to increase steadily with real network carrier support. Finally, for Australia, the fact that all but one carrier will have iPhone 3G bodes well. The plans are a little expensive but consumer interest and enthusiasm is very, very high. That's always a good thing.

Apple can make its 10 million target for 2008 (basically sell 3.5 million more iPhones) without selling a many additional iPhones in the soft US economy if it opens strongly in these three important Asian markets. With SoftBank it has a winner in both brand appeal, content and corporate attitude.

Perhaps they're all independently wealthy?

After watching the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, this iPhone line-waiting seems to be only the SECOND dumbest thing going on in NY this week.

Aha! So it's a political agenda, is it?

Aw, c'mon! It's a tradition! Just like Boxing Day, National Nude Day and World UFO Day.

It's means it is, not belonging to it.

Did you really sign up to post on a tech-based forum so you point out misplaced punctuation? Come'on!

No- they are called "iDiots".

Well actually, they don't. They play tag and I'd guess that the baby is only there for the occasional outing, I've only seen it once but not at night.

Cheers.

Isn't it odd you all use the word precise when you actually are looking for accurate? I guess you are all precise, but it doesn't do anyone any good at all if you are inaccurate. Precision is the ability to do something repeatedly. Accuracy is the quality of being near to the true value.

Not really, but consider that I was responding to a comment about the mis-use of English. \

You'll have to supply some sources before we swallow that one. The terms are synonyms in that sense. The OED doesn't even have a definition for precise that includes a repetitive action.

pre•cise |priˈsīs|
adjective
— Marked by exactness and accuracy of expression or detail.

ac•cu•rate |ˈakyərit|
adjective
— Correct in all details; exact.

Isn't there like a Grammar/Spelling/Vocabulary Forum you all could join and judge each other's usage rather than posting your ridiculous banters on an electronics/computer software forum and sparing the rest of us all your constant BS?

Apparently not.

I have seen several pictures of the line and some of the people waiting appear to have toddlers with them. Anyone standing in line for a day (I refuse to think that someone would be idiotic enough to do this for week) with a baby in tow should be reported to DYFS.

Back on topic: this is just idiotic. As others have mentioned, you will probably be able to get the phone on release day without standing in line. I also don't see (a) supplies running out or (b) there being significant lines on the following day. You can't wait one more day to get this phone? Really?

Back off topic: please Apple, untie this phone from AT&T (so that different plans/rates become available). Your sales will grow significantly.

What do you think would happen if the iPhone was untied from AT&T?

I know about 5 people on different carriers who do not want to switch and would buy it if they could stick with their carriers (most on Verizon, who they like because of their solid coverage, can you hear me know, it is actually true).

Also, one would hope that if more than one carrier is allowed to sell the iPhone, the competition would at least make a wider variety of plans if not lower rates available.

Apple has used visual voicemail to justify AT+T exclusivity. I don't think that having visual voicemail outweighs the benefits of opening the iPhone up to other carriers. I would gladly give that ONE feature up in order to have an iPhone on my carrier of choice.

VV isn't an AT&T exclusive feature. I don't recall ever reading that as a justification. The fact that AT&T bent over for Apple and allowed profit sharing looks to be the main reason why they wen with them.

As for untying from AT&T or even unlocking the iPhone still wouldn't get an iPhone Verizon or Sprint. The only other major US carrier that could the iPhone is T-Mobile, but they have no 3G coverage and when it does comes online it will use different channels, so for those users their best bet is to by a used 2G iPhone.

While CDMA2000-based networks have a minimal worldwide percentage compared to the UTMS-based networks, the US is about 50-55% CDMA2000 and there are enough users worldwide to justify a separate handset production, Apple isn't the sort of company to make separate devices for different markets. It's just not their style, so I think that even when the AT&T contract ends the other US carriers may still be without an iPhone.

Those words mean specific things in statistics, but it's jargon in that sense.

The fact is, Verizon told Steve Jobs to take a hike when he pitched the iPhone to them.

Smacks of an Apple marketing initiative to me...you'll just never be able to convince me that "normal" people, people with jobs and families who make enough money independently to afford an iPhone + contract, even people who aren't very bright, would stand/sit in line for a week to purchase something which has no supply constraints.

And once the first spot is taken, even the mystique of getting the first 3G iPhone at the flagship store is gone.

But an Apple marketing initiative to generate media hype for the phone? Yep, I can believe that.

And it's working nicely, isn't it? I figure the major networks will pick it up this week.

Apple's decision to be highly secretive creates a great deal of free marketing for the company. Apple is somewhat paradizyl, and perhaps that is part of it's endurung interest. I see it as being a well known, but niche company, that is considered high-end, yet is affordable. Forwhatever reason (and I'd like so theories on this) Apple does have a cult following and there will be people who will wait in line for new products. I even know someone who went to NYC for the first time last year and was excited about going to the Apple Store; not the Statue or Liberty or Guggenheim or any of the other fantastic places NYC has to offer. Even more odd, he had never owned a fraking Mac! I doubt Apple marketing had anything to do with these squatters.