“If you were planning on being one of the first in line to buy the upcoming iPhone 5S or 5C, you’ve been beat[en],” Alex Heath reports for Cult of Mac.
“Two guys from Apple reseller Sell Your Mac showed up at the iconic Fifth Avenue Apple Store in New York City this morning only to find that two other guys were already camped out,” Heath reports. “Apple won’t even be announcing its new iPhones until Tuesday, but that hasn’t stopped lines from forming.”
Photo in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s a gorgeous day in NYC for an iPhone queue!
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Rainy Day” for the heads up.]
And with NO free concert tickets!
No, but all apple people are getting a
Month of free streing concerts!
Why would any sane person wait online for two weeks for a phone we’ve all already lowered our expectations for? The iPhone 5S will be the first phone Steve Jobs didn’t have a hand in creating and the leaked images here on MDN have been totally underwhelming and show Apple to be timid where it was once bold. It’s sad but true. And it’s taken them ONE YEAR to deliver what? A little bump to storage and a battery. Same hardware for four years same screen sizes forever and ever same same same boring boring boring but go ahead and wait in line for two weeks because you have no girlfriends or boyfriends or lives.
Meh, I’m pretty excited to get a new iPhone. It looks great. Go troll elsewhere.
Few other things:
• Not all of us want bigger screens
• Bigger screen Assmung phones are a very small percentage of the phones they sell.
• Battery and storage are great on my phone.
What do you think of Apple fans’ devotion to Apple products? Is that bad too?
Lines or queues like these always indicate curiosity and/or camaraderie, and that is why they become human-interest stories in the news. Apple’s lines have transcended those of the premier sporting event or the red carpet opening; they have become a unique cultural artifact, so much so that their diminution or absence now scores even higher at the news dispatcher’s desk.
Everyone understands the basic human desires to be first, to belong to an exalted collective, to feed on the opiates of anticipation, to experience materialist bliss, to proudly lay hands on the newest and best tools our exciting species has crafted as we all reach for the distant stars.
Only the corporate opposition presumes to subvert these natural and visceral urges by relabeling them as deviant or foolish behaviour. That has never worked. But it is pretty much all they have. That, and specs.
There was an article a few months back that said not to expect long lines this time around. I wish I could find it.
That dude is a jackass. He really doesn’t understand Apple fanboi loyalty at all. It’s a social thing and these people want to be seen as Apple fans. They also desperately want those free T-shirts.
And, as I always say, it’s not just fanboi loyalty. It’s quality tech gear loyalty. If its some other company coming up with the best gear, I’m in THEIR line.
Thank you Apple for continuing to be THE BEST.
“Susquehanna Financial Group analyst Chris Caso”. When this becomes the name of a worthwhile tech podcast or video/web blog, I’ll consider giving this idiot’s opinion some credence. Some people…
Tell that idiot look at this line
That is so sad.
This is a classic. I’m still laughing.
In tears….
I’m sorry. I think this makes us look silly. And the people lining up probably ARE silly.
Nothing has been announced. Okay, so we know what phones are likely going to be introduced on Tuesday. But who’s to say when they are going to be on sale.
Let’s say it’s that Friday (Apple likes putting things on sale on Friday, don’t they?). So they’re going to line up for 10 days in all??
I’m sorry — I’m as big a fan of Apple equipment as anyone, but it’s silly. It just is.
I agree. This just makes Apple fans look like idiots.
The announcement won’t be until Tuesday, and the general consensus is that the new phones expected to be announced won’t be shipping/available until Friday, 20 September.
Are these people going to camp out for two weeks? Just for a phone?
To the average person this just make Apple fans look like the full on stereotype fanatics that the Apple haters claim them to be.
No big deal. The millions of people who do the smart thing and order the phone via Apple’s website will also get plenty of coverage.
Well there’s always going to be a crazy bunch in ANY group of people. It is silly bordering on moronic but hey that’s some serious devotion.. I’ll at least give em that lol
I politely beg to differ. That people are willing to sacrifice several uncomfortable days is proof positive of the value of Apple. Samsung may have poked fun of the Apple devoted in their ads, but it’s because the exact opposite happens when they launch one of their phones. Apple incites passion in its fans but also the larger body of consumers who don’t know this website exists, and could not care if it does.
This broader group of consumers do see the excitement we show, and realize it’s for a special reason. Given the number of consumers who switch to Apple after suffering bad experiences with Samsung and Microsoft, people get it.
The coming product launches will also generate a legion of new Apple owners in China, Japan, India, South Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as Africa and South America. Apple is an iconic brand, whose products have been slightly out of reach to millions of people in emerging economies. The announcements of next week could change that for millions. This cannot be understated.
That a relative few camp out at Apple Stores will be carried by the news. Some haters will chide that. They hate and chide anything having to do with Apple. Ignore them. Keep your focus instead on the mass of consumers and in the coming months, their reaction of next week’s announcements.
Perhaps then, you will realize these people who you feel embarrassed by in your posting are indicative of something invaluable: consumers who passionately believe in a company and its products. Apple competitors have spent billions of dollars to try to generate the same passion (Microsoft comes to mind, and so will Samsung with its wretched attempt at a smart watch), and have and will fail.
So don’t worry about the few camping out. Be happy instead that a company like Apple can generate such passion, and what that can do to capture the desire of millions of consumers worldwide.
I would like to see footage of the lines or lack of lines in various countries that are having the iPhone introduced for the first time, and to contrast at the same stores when a new device for when other brands are first introduced. Maybe not fair the first round for a comparison.
So long as it gives Samsung and Google people indigestion.
One thing it’ll definitely give Samsung: some new footage for yet another silly ad mocking Apple fans.
Yeah, Samsung would *kill* to have people camping out for their crap. But nobody lines up for Samsung because Samsung makes crap counterfeits of Apple products.
Apple makes stuff that, well, a certain segment of people can go crazy about. Samsung just makes counterfeit shit, and they know it. So they try to mock their betters. Sad.
It’s not silly: they are the Samsung Advance Team foreword deployed to jump start the copying function.
let me see Samsung achieve this in a genuine way as in not giving away free phone hand sets. This is one aspect of Apple Samsung cannot copy
Testament to a stellar excitement generated by being a great company and delivering great products. Something every company dreams of.
I’m still in line for my iPhone 4 🙂
Lame. I hope they get a dented, chips and scratched iPhone like they did with iPhone 5 last year. It would be so worth the WAIT! LMFAO! 😉
Que in the Assmung astro-turfers
Instead of posting here, maybe you need to update your antivirus on your phone.
Duh-uh. Duh. Duh-huh-huh. Duh.
I want to know how they manage to get the time to spend 5-Freaking Days In Line!!!!
Nonsense. Why would there be a line? Nobody buys iPhones anymore because their displays are too small to read. I’m sure the pundits are already yawning because Apple has lost the ability to innovate.
Where’s Greg Packer? It’s not official without him being there. I have to admit that if the iPhone doesn’t officially go on sale until Sept. 20th, these people are going to have an awful long wait. I can see possibly waiting outside four or five days, but nearly two weeks is extreme.
I really get a kick out of hearing the analysts say that the iPhone is no longer in demand and has lost its appeal. I say that the new iPhones will break all sorts of sales records here and abroad. I’m hoping for the stock to be over $600 within a couple of months if Apple is able to keep up with demand.
AAPL is up $500.75 after hours, investors rush to buy AAPL. Yes, I also hope it will be up above $600 leaving room for pull back. So I have money to spend for Christmas presents and an iPad for my daughter.
It’s good to see you thinking positively. I had you on suicide watch for awhile there, a man who lives by the numbers, holding on for for dear life. But prosperity is just around the corner. Even the naysayers are sensing it, and the paid assassins in the press corps are positioning themselves for plausible deniability. Dear God, it doesn’t get better than this, watching the jackals back themselves into a corner as they pick up the scent of the alpha predator approaching.
… Tails already between their legs, whimpering, pee dribbling down their legs.
What’s that wonderful word? Oh yes: Catharsis.
1. A natural or artificial purgation of any passage, as of the mouth, bowels, etc. 😉
I love it when you talk physical. 🙂
This thread is bliss😎
Laghing_Boy48, you brought out the cannons , cheers !
The Canon is only for the Initiates. The One True Cupertino sets us free. While the minions of the Dread Pirating Snags Um clog the Interwebs with their ineluctable prattling for their false profits. 😛
breeze
Saturday, September 7, 2013 – 1:34 am · Reply
This thread is bliss😎
Laghing_Boy48, you brought out the cannons , cheers !
Rate
I am due a renewal on 29th October… Cannot wait to see what Apple is offering!
Samsung is going to have lines of people waiting outside their store too as soon as they hire them. Apply at Samsungstores.com
Ha!
Who was it that hired a hit squad on a bus to act all strange in front of Apple Stores? It was some competing phone maker who’s name has been forgotten down the corridors of time. Anyone remember?
Oh yes. I am reminded that it was the ‘Wake Up! hit squad campaign in Sydney, Austrailia hired by RIM, whoever they were. 😉
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2403815,00.asp
For some people a line like this is an event unto itself. I’m surprised Samsung doesn’t pay people to wait in lines like they pay celebrities and others to promote their products and bash Apple online.
I remember when the iPad 3 was released. In my area, while the store was full like always we were able to just walk in and buy a couple (I’m using mine right now).
Que the Samsung commercials stating that no one is willing to wait in line for their phones in 3. . .2 . . .1 . . .
I’d like to see Apple respond with an ad showing the empty stores after a big Samsung release. Perhaps they could use chirping crickets as a soundtrack.
It’s harmless. At least it’s not bad news as is reported so often. Some of them are Apple devotees with plenty of time on their hands. Others are trying to get some exposure for themselves or their company/product. Nothing wrong with that if you’re willing to stand in line for a week and a half. Would I do it if I were 20 years old? Probably. Even though I’m anal and try to be logical in everything I do, sometimes you just have to do silly shit. Why not? Maybe two or three days but not 10 days. That IS a long, long time. I’d like to see the video again showing the rapper dancing on the display cases in a Microsoft store last year. Just as he was about to start his meltdown. Priceless. Haven’t seen anyone outside of a store waiting for a new Samsung or Microsoft phone. I would have thought that Samsung would have paid people to stand in line?
I’m glad my city has an Apple store. An Apple Store is the only way to truly experience Apple the way it is meant to be. If Apple Store is like Disney World, than Samsung Stores, or Microsoft Stores are like those cheap go-kart type deals you see in those small Yee Haw type towns.
I went into the Ala Moana Center in Honolulu a little while ago. The Apple store was packed; the M$ store a little ways over was empty. You’re lucky; I wish I didn’t have a three hour drive to get to one. (I won’t take the three hour boat ride to get to an Apple store; the Minnow is just too small…)
From one perspective I want to say:
“Ha ha Samsung! Beat this fan fanaticism!” They can’t.
From another perspective I want to say:
“You’re expecting the iPhones to show up at the stores on the day of their announcement? But what if they’re not?” They’ll be very sad.
From either perspective, it’s a bit surreal.
I hope they realize that they are just ANNOUNCING the phone on Sept 10. The new iPhones will probably not be released till later.
How often can human beings get the absolute BEST in the WORLD?
I can’t afford the BEST car ($$$$$), house ($$$$$$$$) but I can afford the BEST PC, tablet, phone which comes from APPLE.
and millions of Apple fans have the same idea.
and although I’m not much for lines (and probably some of those few now lining up for the 5S are doing it for publicity) I can understand those real fans who wait in line for Apple products because they want to be among the first to get their hands on the BEST.
How can we explain PASSION?
passion usually looks like foolishness to outsiders, isn’t risking life and limb to climb the biggest mountains, surf the biggest waves also look to uninitiated foolish? What about the simple thing of whacking a white ball into a hole in the ground for HOURS, i.e golf, isn’t that also to non golfers dumb? But these are the ‘passions’ of those involved in it.
And Passion is something which Samsung, Microsoft can’t generate and that is why they are so frustrated about it. That’s why they make fun of Apple fans passion as the same time they try to artificially generate passion for their own products with million dollar ‘hollywood’ product launches, massive ad campaigns and free concert tickets.
Apple incites passion because Apple itself is a passionate company. I really got it years ago when I first opened up my Mac Pro. It was streamlined and neat and beautiful INSIDE, not like the tangle of mess of wires in old PC. That’s PASSION. Jobs cared about HIDDEN SCREWS which no one casually could see just like the ancient Greeks interested in perfection cared about the hidden stone work in temples although no one could see them (but the Gods).
Samsung, Microsoft et al . don’t have it, passion. They don’t make their products with it and that’s why they don’t generate it from their customers. They don’t build products with passion but from a PROFIT/LOSS calculation from their excel spread sheets and the input from paid focus groups. They are angry because deep down they realize they don’t ‘have it’ , they don’t even really understand it, it’s not part of their DNA , beyond their abilities (just like the Highest Levels of martial arts is based on mental and mystical abilities which few can attain) and they realize without it, passion, they will NEVER be able to build the BEST and never get the fanatic loyalty.That’s why Samsung etc are frustrated and angry about it and try to attack Apple fans, they want everyone to exist in a grey mundane level and be satisfied with products which are ‘just good enough’ and not the passion fueled BEST.
Idiots…
This is amazing. Only Apple can coand such loyalty!
Command*