ChangetheWorld2012
Feed us!_2681736682_m
On the corner of Fifth Avenue and 60th Street -- i.e., at the opposite end of the block where the iPhone fans were waiting in line -- this young couple staked out a spot with a sign that said "Feed us." I gave them some money; I hope they did use it to buy some food ...
Silly me: after the iPhone 3g had been out for a full week, I thought I could stroll right into the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue & 59th Street in mid-town Manhattan, and simply buy one without any muss, fuss, bother, or delay.
But when I arrived at 11 AM, I found a line of approximately 150 people waiting outside in the broiling sun, not seeming to move forward at all; it turned out that the Apple store "concierge" folks were letting them in in groups of ten, when the previous ten had been taken care of. When I asked the woman how long she had been waiting, she said, "Four hours" -- she had arrived at 7 AM, having already determined that the AT&T stores were sold out throughout New Jersey and Connecticut.
Well, I'm a gadget freak and a Mac fan, but there's a limit to my passion for such things; four hours was just too much. So instead, I decided to take a bunch of pictures of the people who were in the line. Of course, I have no idea whethere the people queued up in front of Apple stores in other cities (or at other stores here in NYC) are similar to this group ... but I'm inclined to think that they are. And if that's true, then the demographics of this group -- in terms of age, gender, nationality, ethnic groups, etc. -- is particularly intriguing. I saw only one guy dressed in a corporate uniform of suit and tie; Apple may be trying to break into the "enterprise" market, but that's not who was standing in line for all those hours in the sun...
Feed us!_2681736682_m
On the corner of Fifth Avenue and 60th Street -- i.e., at the opposite end of the block where the iPhone fans were waiting in line -- this young couple staked out a spot with a sign that said "Feed us." I gave them some money; I hope they did use it to buy some food ...
Silly me: after the iPhone 3g had been out for a full week, I thought I could stroll right into the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue & 59th Street in mid-town Manhattan, and simply buy one without any muss, fuss, bother, or delay.
But when I arrived at 11 AM, I found a line of approximately 150 people waiting outside in the broiling sun, not seeming to move forward at all; it turned out that the Apple store "concierge" folks were letting them in in groups of ten, when the previous ten had been taken care of. When I asked the woman how long she had been waiting, she said, "Four hours" -- she had arrived at 7 AM, having already determined that the AT&T stores were sold out throughout New Jersey and Connecticut.
Well, I'm a gadget freak and a Mac fan, but there's a limit to my passion for such things; four hours was just too much. So instead, I decided to take a bunch of pictures of the people who were in the line. Of course, I have no idea whethere the people queued up in front of Apple stores in other cities (or at other stores here in NYC) are similar to this group ... but I'm inclined to think that they are. And if that's true, then the demographics of this group -- in terms of age, gender, nationality, ethnic groups, etc. -- is particularly intriguing. I saw only one guy dressed in a corporate uniform of suit and tie; Apple may be trying to break into the "enterprise" market, but that's not who was standing in line for all those hours in the sun...