Casey Neistat has produced the video (below), “iPhone 6 Lines and the Chinese Mafia,” which details an iPhone line outside Apple Store SoHo in New York City.
Neistat’s YouTube description states the situation rather concisely, “This entire experience was disheartening.”
Apple faces a public relations problem here. In person and via email, we’ve heard from many, many people who lined up hours early at their local Apple Retail Stores for iPhones on launch day only to find the place besieged by busloads of Chinese-speaking people who seemed motivated by something other than excitement to own Apple’s latest iPhones. Many of these were suburban Apple Retail Stores in the U.S., located far away from large cities. Very frequently these line-sitters had no English fluency whatsoever, so Apple Store employees and security personnel had a difficult/impossible time trying to manage the lines, maintain safety, assign digital numbers in the queue, etc. These were very obviously not tourists. They clearly did not live in the area. They were quite plainly bussed in to acquire the allotted two iPhones person that Apple allowed on launch day. Witnesses saw them arriving and leaving in crowded buses.
The actual Apple fans dispersed throughout the queue seemed dismayed, to say the least. Some were irate. Many discussed how they likely would not get the iPhone they wanted, that it would likely be winging its way back to China from whence it was assembled to fetch 3x times its retail price later that morning. Many complained that body odor was an issue. The place smelled bad and they wanted to leave. More than a few gave up and left the line and the Apple Store.
People used to line up at Apple Stores and they purposely didn’t preorder their iPhones. They didn’t have their iPhone shipped to their homes for a reason. They went to the Apple Store for the sense of community, for the camaraderie, for the party. At many Apple Retail Stores yesterday, this didn’t happen. If this continues, Apple is in danger of losing something special.
Here’s Apple’s problem in a nutshell: Loyal Apple customers at their local Apple Store had a BAD experience, were certainly NOT DELIGHTED, and left their local Apple Retail Store feeling DISHEARTENED and DISAPPOINTED.
This cannot be good for Apple.
What Apple can do about this is debatable, but something needs to be done. In the U.S., at least, you can’t discriminate. You can’t bar people who live 200 miles away from being bussed in to buy up all of the iPhones in order to smuggle them back into China. Therefore, having a simultaneous launch in China would likely go a long way towards mitigating this black market activity at Apple Stores and making what should be a fun experience into an AWFUL one. This seemed to help the situation last year with the release of the iPhone 5s and 5c which also launched in China on the same day. Or perhaps Apple should require that all launch day iPhone buyers have to sign a two-year contract or, at least, use Apple Pay or a credit card? Perhaps the lottery system that Apple employs in China to discourage scalpers needs to be placed in effect worldwide?
Does anybody have any other ideas?
Direct link to video here.
Related articles:
Apple’s new iPhone 6/Plus become tourist attractions – September 20, 2014
Smugglers cash in on delayed iPhone launch in China – September 19, 2014
Gold iPhone 6 Plus price hits $3,600 in China as delay fuels black market – September 18, 2014
Apple controls Chinese scalpers with lottery; online iPhone 4S sales resume – February 3, 2012
Apple combats Hong Kong scalpers with new iPhone reservations lottery system – January 30, 2012
Apple suspends iPhone 4S sales in mainland China retail stores – January 13, 2012
Beijing’s iPhone 4S turmoil a lesson to Apple, say analysts – January 13, 2012
Beijing Apple Store pelted with eggs after iPhone 4S sales canceled due to scalper fights – January 12, 2012
Huge throng of red cap scalpers crushes Shanghai Apple Store for iPhone 4S launch (with photo) – January 12, 2012
Hong Kong scalpers buy up iPhone 4S and resell them for big profit outside Apple Store (with video) – November 12, 2011
Police, scalpers, and customers clash in iPhone 4S queues at Hong Kong Apple Store – November 10, 2011
iPad 2, white iPhone 4 sparks scuffle outside Beijing Apple Store – May 9, 2011
Apple takes steps to curb rampant iPhone 4 scalping in China – October 11, 2010
Apple shuts flagship Beijing store as scalpers sap store’s iPhone 4 supply – September 30, 2010
iPhone 6 is selling on ebay for up to $9000..I can understand why these people are in line to make a little cash
Actually I have been to all the iPhone and iPad launches and it’s the same guys in the front everyday and it’s really crazy seeing the same people all the time. I don’t care if they are white, brown, purple or green. If they are there launch day so be it, everyone has the right. BUT everyday after also?
I had a smooth and enjoyable experience at the Apple store in Aventura, FL. There were a few hundred people, but everything seemed to work like clockwork. Local food vendors where taking orders and delivering to people in line. Staff was friendly and helpful. It was a mix of anglos, hispanics, russians, jews, blacks, and more. Everyone seemed friendly and sociable as the line wound around the fountain and into the store.
What a load of racist crap. It seems Chinese people – who have not been proven were from China – are not welcome to line up together with genuine “Apple fans”, who I’m sure belong to the writer’s ethnic group and smell of roses. “Many complained that body odor was an issue. The place smelled bad and they wanted to leave.” What a dumb, uneducated – and probably very smelly – ass.
Contact MDN and ask to find out for whom Mr Tamborelli writes for.
Obviously, he writes for MacDailyNews and it could simply be a pen name. Your suggestion is pointless and meaningless.
And witless.
here are the important points:
1/ it would be useful to know how much money the brokers are paying the people to sit in line and receive 2 iPhones. anybody able to site links to this info?
2/ anytime you use an ethnic reference to refer to “those people” or “others”, to make a distinction between yourself and them, you need to be careful why the ethnic reference is being used. most of the time, there is no need site an ethnic reference.
3/ do you think that only chinese brokers are paying chinese to stand in line?
think again, usa caucasion brokers are also paying usa caucasion homeless people to stand in line as well. google it.
4/ launch night experience: this is a legitimate topic to talk about. all of reading this far into a forum for sure we all love mac and iPhone and iOS. the loss of commaraderie and enduring staying up for 1 or 2 nights before a launch is something to talk about. but people who just bitch and moan and leave due to so many people obviously in line just to make money for themselves by immediately handing over the new iPhone to resellers is in fact life. its how it works. get over it. endure it. talk about it. but don’t resort to race bating just to bitch about not having a 20-something white person stand next to you in line.
lastly, my perspective has been shaped by having lived in china and in hong kong. i myself felt discouraged at having to wait WEEKS before i get new products from apple in hong kong and in shanghai.
apple itself used poorly trained managers to handle initial launches in china. riots occurred in beijing.
but apple got better managing it with creating crowd control mechanisms and pre-orders and demanding ID and requiring a credit card.
blame apple for not creating a better system to try to prevent resellers from taking so many of the initial phones. they will improve their systems.
angela arhendts where are you? still smiling at people in sydney? step up to the plate angela. were waiting.
How about a valid driver license and a recent utility bill that corresponds to the identity on the license?
This really isn’t a race issue. This store, this time happened to have a lot of Chinese (probably Chinese mafia organized), however, in the past at other stores, I’ve seen the same with Russians, and it’s always an issue with unorganized homeless being hired, Craigslist kids, etc…
One thing Apple could do is pre-authorize the sales for people in line, doing this via credit card only. While there are legal issues with not accepting cash, there are exceptions, the biggest of which is where not accepting cash is due to the impracticality or risk… both of which would be real here.
Essentially, Apple could have people monitoring the line over night and the day before. When someone enters the line, they great them, do the pre-sale authorization. The pre-sale authorization doesn’t need to be for the full amount, it could just be a deposit.
In the past, Apple didn’t sell unlocked iPhones until weeks after launch day. That might also be a way of dealing with this.
Whatever the case, making the line experience better is definitely worth it for Apple.
How about ICE does spot passport visa checks – that would have dispersed the apple SoHo line in 2 seconds flat. It was not fair to subject the Apple store employees to unvaccinated, undocumented foreigners in such huge numbers. If you have any immune system problems, stay away from the Apple stores in NYC for a few days.
This is not a new problem. My last year working at the Apple Store was the first year of the iPhone (2007-08). It was that year that the vibe of the Apple Store shifted from a friendly, laid back sort of community center for Mac users into something else entirely. Busloads – actual busloads! – of non-English-speaking Chinese people would pull up directly in front of the store, line up, and all buy the 5-iPhone maximum. It was insanely frustrating and demoralizing. Apple was responsive to the situation, first instituting the maximum of 5, then I think they even lowered it to two, and barred cash payments.
This experience turned working at the Apple Store from something I loved into something I hated, and I quit the day the 3G came out.
The majority of people in line are CHINESE! Just to be clear the ethnicity. Asians can be Korean, Japanese,Vietnamese, Philippines, Laos etc …I don’t think they look in anyway or spoke the same language. These are Chinese people buying to resell in China.
This confusion is similar to that of USA citizens when they say “I’m American,” whereas an american can be any cuban, Mexican, peruvian, Chilean, Brazilian or panamanian citizen. China appropriates of Asia as USA appropriates of America. I’m EU.
Japanese Apple Stores experienced similar situation.
A man put a picnic sheet and left ,hours after 40 Chinese came and broke into the waiting line.
But I heard that some of the stores invented a great method to prevent them from buying iPhone.
They ask an email address and a valid mobile phone number in Japan. It was very effective in our country where people have over one phone number per capita.
This is sad. It’s so obvious what is going on……
We live in a Free country, freedom to travel, freedom to buy, freedom to move.
To say that Apple has a PR problem by having lines of Chinese is not only stupid, borders racism and ignores who police the street if there is a crime
Do Apple request ID to enter their stor or buy their products??
Seems the simple solution is for credit card sales or cash sales only if supported by a valid proof of identity ( library card, drivers licence etc.) with a local address.
I went to my local Apple store on Friday, was amazed at the amount of Asian faces in the queue, now I know that evey Chinese student in the area was doing, who can blame them , but I will never queue foe an apple product And I am annoyed that I have to wait 2 to three weeks fora phone just because the Chinese are willing to pay twice the price. I live in regional Queensland. Australia, and nearly every iphone 6 From my store was shipped back , We have a large international student population but so do many and I mean every major city in oz has to , so how many phones where shipped back just from Australia
I’m with the lottery.
Make it even 20 bucks for a ticket, redeemable for something from the AppStore or the physical store.
Hell, the thing costs 1000 USD here (depending on the model) – 20 bucks is NOTHING.
That said, I’ve never felt the need to buy anything from Apple the day it was released.
I’ve got a life besides Apple gear.
What a weird thread.
Let’s everyone take a shower, take a nap and let Apple sort this out.
I heard Samsung sent in all the foreigners to buy out iPhone supplies so legitimate customers couldn’t get one and would have to buy a Samsung phone. Is that marketing genius or what?
First of all, MAFIA implies somehow they are organized crime and stealing them. Merely hiring a bunch of people to buy phones at FULL RETAIL is not organized crime by any measure – well, other than as a crazy racist because “they don’t look like me.” It’s a FREE COUNTRY. You are free to buy prducts with your money – whether you stand in yourself, order by mail or hire someone else to do it is totally LEGAL. it’s NOT stealing. Your requirement is people who buy products show enthusiam? You feel the same way about yugurt? Yea, this whole thing sounds ike some crazy racist who was bored at that ranch and decided to drive to NY?
Here’s the easiest way to fix the problem: limit all sales of CARRIER phones (ATT, Verizon, etc) to activations. If you’re not activating with a contract, no sale. If you’re black, white, Chinese, etc and you’d like to activate a phone, come right in. No racism, no problems. The only requirement to purchase a carrier phone is to activate it.
I went in Tmobile in very small town today and traded out 2 iPhone 5s’ for 2 16GB Gold iPhone 6 for wife and daughter just now. 2 Chinese gentleman came in asked to buy iPhones w/o contract and pay full. T-Mobile told them you CAN NOT buy phones that are not activated PERIOD. They just went to Sprint and picked up a couple. I saw them leaving with Sprint bags. I walked out with 2 phones and ZERO down.
There were two problems created by these people paid to buy the new iPhones. One, of course, was the depletion of the Pluses, and the other was the extended wait times for those who were in line to buy for themselves. Last year I was in line at 4:30 a.m. at the Tyson’s Corner Apple store in McLean, Virginia. By 9:00 a.m. I was across the street eating breakfast and plying with my new iPhone 5s. This year, no breakfast. Even though I was in line at 4:00 a.m., It was 2:00 p.m. before I got my phone.
Simply limiting payments to credit cards would solve most of this problem, but Apple bears a lot of responsibility for this, too. Apple *knew* there was huge, pent-up demand for the iPhone 6 Plus, thus also knew that the lines would be exceptionally long (and knew that scalpers would be out in huge numbers). Yet, at Tyson’s Corner, there were half as many employees this year than last year. This was a major customer service failure that will always remain in my mind as when the Apple Store experience jumped the shark. I won’t ever be in line there again.
1. Just wondering how many who are abusive of Apple are actually android fanboys.
2. I won’t be surprised if a company that went to an extent of cheating their own customers by providing wrongly boosted numbers on the performance of their devices to actually even sponsor these people to be in line just to spoil Apple’s great customer buying experience. Do not forget the news that came out last year that S**sung had few of people in line to understand why Apple products alone can create such enthusiasm.
3. For those who honestly felt bad, i can empathise what a great turn off it would be. But, if we all get out of this and were to genuinely consider our various customer service experiences dealing with any other company Apple would still be by far the best at providing great service. Hope something is done about this. Even if not Apple will be the best for me.