Comments on: The Long Line

The Long Line

Robot Johnny — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 09:20:22 -0800

Apple must be putting something in Tokyo's watersource.

By: jennak

jennak — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 09:34:10 -0800

I was doing a rough count as the video went along -- I was at around 1150 when the officer said, "you're 1000th from the top."

By: riffola

riffola — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 09:35:02 -0800

That's insane!

By: triv

triv — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 09:36:07 -0800

so, it's a long line. a really long line of people. in a video. riiiiiight.

By: jennak

jennak — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 09:36:07 -0800

It doesn't strike me as a lot of people -- just a poor way to organize a line. Why not have it snake back and forth and close down an entire sidewalk or two?

By: re_verse

re_verse — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 09:38:42 -0800

jennark - because it would then block use of the sidewalk to any people who are smart enough not to stand in an incredibly long pointless line. I can't see any logic in waiting in line for the people who are a bock away or more, personally.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 09:44:45 -0800

Antipixel had nice commentary and photos, and one of the comments mentions a 9MB MPEG4 of the inside of the store.

By: jennak

jennak — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 09:56:17 -0800

jennark - because it would then block use of the sidewalk to any people who are smart enough not to stand in an incredibly long pointless line. I realize that (hence why I said to close "an entire sidewalk or two"), but it's not like people wouldn't be able to cross to the other side of the street and get by. It seems like it would require less police presence as well. Also, I'm not from Arkansas. ;)

By: dobbs

dobbs — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 10:00:34 -0800

Why not have it snake back and forth and close down an entire sidewalk or two? Having stood in many lengthy lines (mostly at film festivals), I'd say they did a superb job at organizing the line. The reason you wouldn't snake back and forth is you'd restrict access to the sidewalk and entrance to other stores. A sure way for Apple, as a new tenant, to piss off its neighbours. On preview: it's not like people wouldn't be able to cross to the other side of the street The people crossing would be pissed off, and rightly so. The fact that there were professionally made signs that read "End of Line" leads me to believe that Tokyo has a big line-up culture. Still, that line is insane.

By: taumeson

taumeson — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 10:02:18 -0800

HHHAHAAHAA!!! stupid japanese.... oh, wait....i'm japanese

By: hama7

hama7 — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 10:03:47 -0800

Seems to me that's not all that out of the ordinary. Where's the video of a subway train at rush hour? Or the train all those people got back on after the show?

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 10:04:11 -0800

Is this common in Japan? Mean common not as an everyday thing. Common when something new is available for viewing/showing.

By: ubermesh

ubermesh — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 10:14:38 -0800

At least they're not trampling one another for a $29 DVD player.

By: badstone

badstone — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 10:21:15 -0800

But what did they just put in the water? Is that the first retail store in Japan? Is some piece of Mac technology available in Japanese for the first time? Did Apple make a commercial featuring a raccoon with gigantic testicles?

By: machaus

machaus — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 10:26:04 -0800

Is this the line to see Bob Harris?

By: neuroshred

neuroshred — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 10:29:32 -0800

I love Macs, but I would never wait in line, any line, to get into an Apple Store. Unless they were giving away a free Mac for lining up. Apple Stores are fun to hang out in when you've got time to kill, but ultimately they're just a white-walled store with some computers.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 10:38:29 -0800

"At least they're not trampling one another for a $29 DVD player." Do you mean claiming to have been trampled for a $29 DVD player? 'Cause that's a little different.

By: fenriq

fenriq — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 10:56:09 -0800

Hey Crash, she's got a dream! She wants to get rich by faking her own injuries and forcing big corporations to pay her to shush up. I bet she would have taken Walmart dollars instead of cash. As for waiting in line to get into an Apple Store, I don't know why anyone would do it either.

By: LoopSouth

LoopSouth — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 11:15:53 -0800

That is a classic rave line... err... without the ravers... and at an Apple store... ahh... nevermind.

By: robbie01

robbie01 — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 11:20:48 -0800

Perhaps they were all waiting in line to see the first electronics store or kiosk in Japan that doesn't offer some type of portable/cellular phone for sale. How novel! I, on the other hand, walked into an Apple store last night while waiting for my pizza from Round Table, sauntered past two whole customers, giggled at the employee who had never heard of Halo, and ended up walking out with a 40GB iPod. What is Apple putting in our water?

By: lotsofno

lotsofno — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 11:38:21 -0800

i am more surprised that the guy robbie01 mentioned didn't know about Halo, then i am about the line. i imagine that a lot of grand openings for popular overseas stores are welcomed with such lines at japan.

By: Orange Goblin

Orange Goblin — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 11:48:53 -0800

Yeh, I stopped caring about a quarter of the way through. Anything special happen? Or does the line just end?

By: yesster

yesster — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 11:58:15 -0800

I have yet to experience anything in life that would be worth standing in a line more than 2 or 3 people long.

By: Samizdata

Samizdata — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 11:58:18 -0800

Don't they get trained from birth to stand in lines?

By: dabitch

dabitch — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 12:01:49 -0800

wauw !

By: terrapin

terrapin — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 12:12:59 -0800

neuroshred: "Unless they were giving away a free Mac for lining up." You are spot-on—possibly without realising so—neuroshred. At these Apple store events they frequently give away iPods, etc, in order to get people to show up... and potentially buy something while they are there.

By: matteo

matteo — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 12:15:15 -0800

Is this the line to see Bob Harris? "I need mysterious face... Sina-Tora. You know Lat Pack?" "...Sinatra... Ole Blue Eyes... ring a ding ding."

By: dobbs

dobbs — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 12:16:02 -0800

Orange Goblin, yes the line just ends... about 3 times further than where you watched to. What's Halo?

By: Yossarian

Yossarian — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 12:48:56 -0800

Bah. Try Cedar Point on a holiday weekend. "From this point on you have 85 years to the ride."

By: Satapher

Satapher — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 12:52:46 -0800

THARS LOTS OF JAPANESE IN JAPAN!

By: Orange Goblin

Orange Goblin — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 13:03:01 -0800

Halo is a not very good game that people think is very good. Came out on Xbox when the console was released, and on PC more recently.

By: Keyser Soze

Keyser Soze — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 13:21:52 -0800

When I can buy a Radeon 9800Xt, install it myself without removing warranty, and having near-seamless driver installation that will natively support my games, then I will have some gamers respect for Apple. Apples are good for two things: Looking really nice, and video editing. Everything else is well taken care of with a build-your-own pc. I used to work for Adobe, and Premier CS can do insane things on a PC that is relatively on par with a Macintosh's video editing capabilities. If your running a 3.2Ghz Hyperthreading P4 with Dual channel ram you will get amazing speed with a PC thats cheaper than a less-equipped Apple. Oh, yeah. That's a lot of people. Damn.

By: Dick Paris

Dick Paris — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 13:25:22 -0800

Japan: wacky and well organized!

By: the fire you left me

the fire you left me — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 13:39:20 -0800

Looks like exclusive club in notable city.

By: Grod

Grod — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 15:14:41 -0800

I've never been able to wait in lines. When I was a kid and my family went to Disney I didn't go on a single ride, they just didn't seem worth the wait. I was only about 10 at the time, but I'd already figured out that those lines looped around and were many times longer than they looked, and knew that nothing was worth waiting in a long line in the Florida sun for more than about thirty seconds.

By: meech

meech — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 15:35:09 -0800

What seems remarkable is the lack of people looking at the camera or waving - good place to shoot a guerilla film then.

By: rough ashlar

rough ashlar — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 15:53:22 -0800

Ya don't see people line up like that to get some Linux product.....only to get that Good Ole BSD product.

By: kevspace

kevspace — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 17:10:03 -0800

"Halo is a not very good game that people think is very good." --Orange Goblin YES! Thank you, I was beginning to think I was insane.

By: meech

meech — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 18:04:31 -0800

the line just ends It's so much more than that - it's poignant, ironic and also startling. I haven't seen and ending like that in years.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 18:27:41 -0800

Hmph. Looks like a typical Canadian Boxing Day line. Can never believe the number of people willing to stand out iin the December cold for hours on end, just to get into A&B Sound, Future Shop, or other electronics stores just to grab a cheap TV.

By: fatbobsmith

fatbobsmith — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 21:39:45 -0800

Are we sure that wasn't just a line for the DMV next to the Apple Store?

By: joedan

joedan — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 01:24:12 -0800

five fresh fish: what the hell is boxing day? if it's what i imagined, then i'm damn glad that mike tyson is getting the recognition that he deserves.

By: Orange Goblin

Orange Goblin — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 02:31:19 -0800

Boxing Day is the day after Christmas. See here for more info. No one really knows why it is called Boxing Day.

By: Jade Dragon

Jade Dragon — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 03:37:57 -0800

My other half and I attended the launch of the Apple Store in Albany NY a while back. Of course, we're both Mac fans and used it as an excuse for a roadtrip! (That and it's pretty well understood that it's almost a snowball's chance in hell that we'll ever see an Apple Store in Canada, never mind Montreal.) I was driving back from Nova Scotia in eastern Canada, stopped by to pick him up in Montreal and continued on to Albany. I had scouted out online that the mall where it was opening had a "Mall Walker" program, so they opened their doors at some obscene hour like 6am for all the seniors who do their rounds. With this semi-secret knowledge, we arrived very early, hoping to get an early spot in line, only to discover we actually made it first!! Another local couple arrived only 10-15 minutes later; and were rather disappointed to find out they weren't first. We were prepared for the long wait, I had packed comfy folding chairs and had my Titanium G4 laptop, with which I was even able to log online using my Airport card, as the Apple store was leaving their wireless Airport network open for anyone in range. So I was able to do a live report for "ehMac.ca", an Canadian Mac user group and forum that I frequented to at the time. We were even able to take photos and post them live of the growing line; but it never got longer than a few hundred... Many others also brought their Apple laptops; I've never seen so many different incarnations and generations of Mac portables in one place! The manager of the store came out to greet us and was amazed to discover that the two first people in line were Canadians! (I had a Canadian flag draped over the back of my chair...) She even brought out the Apple Regional Director out to meet us; so that she could report back to Steve Jobs how Canadians had come so far and made it first in line. We got free T-shirts and my other half made the first software purchase in that store. The staff also let me sit behind the "Genius Bar" to be able to log the rest of my live report for "ehMac.ca". All in all, a fun time, we met some great people and it was a neat excuse for a roadtrip. Of course, I am one that wonders at people who wait out overnight in the rain or snow to buy concert tickets -- at least we were indoors, with comfy chairs, a laptop and wireless connection -- now THAT'S the way to wait in line!! (grin)

By: Mo Nickels

Mo Nickels — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 06:06:04 -0800

We should just note that Apple traditionally offers discounts of 10 percent on these celebratory days, so though I don't doubt that all these people are Apple fans, I suspect they are also bargaining 10 percent off of a new PowerBook against the time they have to wait in line for it.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 08:51:00 -0800

Isn't it called Boxing Day because that's the day we're supposed to crush our boxes for recycling?

By: Orange Goblin

Orange Goblin — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 10:59:17 -0800

No, its cos its the day we give our boxes to the servants, or the day we roll boxes down the hills in a race, or the day on which a boxing match always happens. Like I said, no one knows ;)

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 14:28:43 -0800

The WalMart Woman would enjoy boxing day. She could sue for a small fortune!