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It's funny.  Laugh. Portables (Apple) Apple

Line Forms At Apple's Always-Open Manhattan Cube 445

SpectreBlofeld writes "According to EngadgetMobile, a line has formed in front of Apple's flagship Cube store in Manhattan. From the article: 'So word on the street (literally) is that a large number of people are queuing in line outside of Apple's flagship store on 5th Avenue in New York City — keep in mind the Cube is open 24 hours a day. Our intrepid girl-on-the-scene reports that the group is more than 60-deep, though most people seem confused about what they're waiting for, but some believe they're actually camping out for a 3G iPhone.' Prank, or mass hysteria?" I wonder if the crowd already has its own Flickr group set up -- if not, what are they waiting for on that front?
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Line Forms At Apple's Always-Open Manhattan Cube

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  • by Erioll ( 229536 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @05:00PM (#23511164)
    It's apple people. What ELSE could it be but mass hysteria? ;)
    • Re:Mass Hysteria (Score:5, Informative)

      by Z00L00K ( 682162 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @05:06PM (#23511250) Homepage Journal
      Mass confusion maybe?

      It's usually better to wait for a while when a new product is released - that way someone else will have all problems.

    • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 22, 2008 @05:08PM (#23511266)

      It's apple people. What ELSE could it be but mass hysteria? ;)

      OS X and commodity x86 architectures living together?

    • by flyingsquid ( 813711 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @05:12PM (#23511328)
      It's apple people. What ELSE could it be but mass hysteria? ;)

      Yeah, but when we Apple fans do mass hysteria, it's in a hip, cool, stylish kinda way.

    • The Onion (Score:5, Insightful)

      by StCredZero ( 169093 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @05:26PM (#23511510)
      "Line forms spontaneously at NYC Apple Store" It sounds like a headline on The Onion! I guess we've been at the point where The Onion sounds like real life [theonion.com] for some time now.
    • by NMerriam ( 15122 ) <NMerriam@artboy.org> on Thursday May 22, 2008 @05:42PM (#23511728) Homepage

      It's apple people. What ELSE could it be but mass hysteria? ;)


      Yeah, but it's mass hysteria with hipsters and threesomes with hot vegetarian girls protesting the war.
    • Giant orgy (Score:4, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 22, 2008 @05:50PM (#23511838)
      A giant fanboy orgy is going to take place inside the cube. Steve Jobs will allow them all the blow him 10 seconds each.

      Jokes aside, an Engadget story on slasdot, about Apple, on a queue. I know Apple is worshiped here, but can it go lower than this?
      • by eli pabst ( 948845 ) on Friday May 23, 2008 @12:12AM (#23514234)

        A giant fanboy orgy is going to take place inside the cube. Steve Jobs will allow them all the blow him 10 seconds each.

        Well that's obviously wrong. The line would be a hell of a lot longer than 60 deep for that.
      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        "I know Apple is worshiped here..."

        I assume that this is the funny part that got you modded up. From reading regular comments right here on Slashdot I have discovered that because I am a Mac user:
        1. I am gay.
        2. I have toy computer.
        3. I only bought a Mac because I am under the influence of marketing forces.
        4. I'm too stupid to be able to use anything else.
        5. I am a shrill fanboy. Or fanbois. Whatever.
        • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

          by Anonymous Coward
          I can't help but notice that you do not deny the truth of any of the items on the list.
        • No, you are submissive, dogmatic, and base much of your identity on a brand for consumer products. You are the shame of Mac users.

          Has anyone else noticed the similarity between Apple fanboys and Republican freepers?

          Think about it:

          Criticism of the (product or company | party or policy) is seen as personal attack.
          Criticism of the fearless leader is seen as a personal attack.
          Both groups consider themselves tiny voices of truth being attacked by a horde who constantly censors them.
          Both groups employ talking poi
        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by mdwh2 ( 535323 )
          I assume that this is the funny part that got you modded up.

          There's no excuse for the trolls, but they tend to get modded down, so that doesn't change the OP's point.

          Generally, anything critical of Apple has got modded down, when the same comments made with respect to other platforms wouldn't. Apple stories are the only one that I have to browse at -1 to follow the thread properly.

          I have noticed this become less an issue since the release of the Iphone - possibly people are getting fed up of seeing story af
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Dana W ( 1281070 )
      "I" have an iPhone "and a Macbook Pro for that matter" its a nice phone, but its a PHONE for fucks sake! I bought mine a month after the line standing dimwits got bored. What drives people to stand in line like like this? I may get a 3G iPhone at some point. I probably will, when the old phone is two years old. But to stand out on a street corner like a kid waiting for a new video game console? And don't just blame Mac users, just like iPods. There are plenty of iPhones hooked to PCs. "Can you
      • by breem42 ( 664497 ) <breem42@yMOSCOWahoo.ca minus city> on Thursday May 22, 2008 @09:10PM (#23513308)

        "I" have an iPhone "and a Macbook Pro for that matter" [snip] I may get a 3G iPhone at some point. I probably will, when the old phone is two years old.[snip]

        "You" have too much money. Luckily, Apple is helping you with that.

    • Re:Mass Hysteria (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Carnildo ( 712617 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @07:31PM (#23512674) Homepage Journal
      Performance art, perhaps? Has anyone checked to see what Improv Everywhere is up to?
    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by jo42 ( 227475 )

      Apple people
      "iPoop, therefore iAm!"
  • by Mordok-DestroyerOfWo ( 1000167 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @05:00PM (#23511168)
    Does this remind anybody else of the Eloi gathering to be taken underground by the Morlocks?
  • Apple... (Score:5, Funny)

    by ChowRiit ( 939581 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @05:01PM (#23511190)
    You know Apple fandom is getting excessive when a product doesn't even need to exist to get hyped...
    • Re:Apple... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Selfbain ( 624722 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @05:45PM (#23511760)
      Whatever is in there, it's the only thing I've ever wanted! - Fry
    • Re:Apple... (Score:5, Funny)

      by mrslacker ( 1122161 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @06:44PM (#23512316)
      Guess you haven't seen this ;-)

      http://www.misterbg.org/AppleProductCycle/ [misterbg.org]

      hth.
    • by OldManAndTheC++ ( 723450 ) on Friday May 23, 2008 @01:46AM (#23514558)
      Whispers are circulating concerning a new Apple offering, to be known as the "iNull". Apple's latest tech blockbuster is said to involve no hardware or software, will not be offered as an online service, will not be encumbered by DRM, and in fact will have no actual existence at all, either physical or virtual.

      "Apple will change the way we look at nothingness as a society," said one industry insider. "This is game-changing. Everything you think you know about nothing is going to be swept away."

      Mac enthusiasts are eager to be among the first to have an iNull, despite the inherent philosophical difficulties in "having" one. "I can't wait!" blurted one blogger, "Apple has once again shown how they 'think different'. In a world of gadgets, doodads and useless techno-gimmickry, they've brought forth something of unrivaled simplicity and elegance. Way to go!"

      From a business perspective, the profit potential is limitless -- the iNull will have the lowest production cost of any Apple product to date, requiring no manufacturing, shipping, or inventory, although there will be a "significant" marketing campaign. Of the $499 price tag, Apple is expected to reap the lion's share as pure profit, with an unspecified percentage paid out as a licensing fee to the Sartre estate.
  • by LotsOfPhil ( 982823 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @05:02PM (#23511198)
    So the link is "iphone-line-forms-at-apples-flagship-for-absolutely-no-reason." It seems quite obvious that the reason is marketing. Same as when there were lines at Apple stores selling iphones but not at AT&T stores selling iphones.
    • this is a new marketing strategy - you don't even have to have anything to market! just get people to stand in line!
    • by LoudMusic ( 199347 ) * on Thursday May 22, 2008 @07:05PM (#23512498)
      I realize others are replying that there were lines at the AT&T stores near them, but the day after launch I walked into my local AT&T store where there were maybe a couple people looking at Blackberries and asked if they knew when their next shipment of iPhones would be in. The sales person said, "Uh, I've got like 16 in the back.", "Oh? I'll take two. Thanks!" Gave one to my wife as a present and sold the other to my boss.

      If there is technology you want that is in high demand you can probably find it in a smaller town.
  • It's back! (Score:5, Funny)

    by fstolze ( 1229222 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @05:02PM (#23511214)
    People lining up in front of stores in the hope that maybe there will be something for sale that they are after - sounds like the Soviet Union to me!
    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by maxume ( 22995 )
      Are there any pickles?
    • Re:It's back! (Score:5, Interesting)

      by flyingsquid ( 813711 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @05:23PM (#23511470)
      People lining up in front of stores in the hope that maybe there will be something for sale that they are after - sounds like the Soviet Union to me!

      I once visited the Apple campus at 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino. There was a big open, quadrangular courtyard. Each side of the quadrangle had a huge banner, like 20 feet tall, displaying an Apple product: there was a iBook, a PowerBook, an iMac, and a Power Mac. The huge banners made me think of something the Soviets might have put up to glorify Stalin and Lenin at Red Square to celebrate the revolution. And certainly, Steve Jobs is a bit like Stalin or Kim Jong Il in creating a cult of personality, and you could argue that his product announcements are like the Communist Party rallies held in the USSR, China, or North Korea.

      Obviously there are limits to such an analogy. I don't imagine Apple-manufactured tanks, made of polycarbonate and brushed alumninum rolling into Eastern Europe. And I don't imagine Apple getting the bomb, or starving millions of people to death, or locking PC users into re-education camps where they are taught how to use a mouse with a single button. Still, the way Jobs and Apple appeal to people is oddly similar to the way totalitarian regimes do.

    • by stableos ( 452115 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @05:45PM (#23511762)
      Anyone wanna come stand in the Zune line with me?
    • Re:It's back! (Score:5, Informative)

      by porky_pig_jr ( 129948 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @07:15PM (#23512576)
      Yes, I've thought of that as well. Except in Soviet Union people didn't line up in hope that may be there will be something for sale they are after. They lined up in hope that there may be something for sale *at all*, not necessarily they are after, but may be something decent, and if they don't need it they can sell it. Lived in Moscow in 70s, know that phenomena quite well.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 22, 2008 @05:03PM (#23511218)
    And the Lord Jobs did address the faithfully assembled masses, saying "Unto you my loyal supplicants I do bestow the bounty of the 3G iPhone, that ye may use it at all times, and in sickness, and in health, and in times of pestilence and low bandwidth, and it shall comfort thee."

    And then did the Lord Jobs hand out the Holy 3G iPhone unto the chosen who harkened unto him, and it was good.
  • Improv Everywhere? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Bryansix ( 761547 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @05:04PM (#23511234) Homepage
    Maybe it's the same people who pulled off this stunt? http://improveverywhere.com/2006/04/23/best-buy/ [improveverywhere.com]
  • Even on engadget this was non-news.
  • by hyperz69 ( 1226464 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @05:19PM (#23511416)
    The ILine :)
  • by peter303 ( 12292 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @05:20PM (#23511434)
    Cant wait until they perfect cloning.
  • by syousef ( 465911 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @05:24PM (#23511480) Journal
    I've been calling Apple fans lemmings for years. Finally I have clear and irrefutable evidence of herd behavour!

    (Hint: This is tongue in cheek humour, you want to mod it funny not troll. Either that or there's nothing to see here, move along. The secret history of star wars says so, so it must be true).
  • by Black Art ( 3335 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @05:25PM (#23511496)
    Are they moaning as well?

    Nothing that the British like more than moaning and queuing.
  • by Animats ( 122034 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @05:27PM (#23511514) Homepage

    This looks like a marketing stunt. Note that posts, barriers, and security people for line control were all on hand for this "unexpected" event.

    Apple probably isn't even paying them. All they'd have to do is send anonymous text messages for a few of their fanboys, er, customers.

    • This looks like a marketing stunt. Note that posts, barriers, and security people for line control were all on hand for this "unexpected" event.

      It's a glass cube in the middle of Manhattan. They probably have the guards to keep people from throwing Zunes through the damn store.
  • by deAtog ( 987710 )
    please move along.
  • What's worse? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by objekt ( 232270 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @05:30PM (#23511552) Homepage
    The fact that they line up for nothing, making them little more than a flash mob...

    OR

    That this story gets media attention at all and has anti-macheads all in a sweat shouting "sheeple!" and trying to put various political/religious/fanboi spins on the story?
  • ...line forms at supermarket checkout. More at 11.
  • by techsoldaten ( 309296 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @05:35PM (#23511624) Journal
    Meanwhile, at the Sony Style store, 5 blocks away, the glow of HDTVs illuminated the vapid faces of salespeople in tshirts as they stared across the racks over empty aisles. Aisles of laptops, PS3s, CDs and other items went unpurchased, and no one was there to see it.

    Brand name computer stores are the outlet for those too weak to resist the urge to make impulse purchases in excess of a month's income. The fact Apple has been able to capitalize on this trend so well speaks to the fetishistic appeal of those shiny laptops and the absence of any real value in their products. Convinced the worth of something that is not even there, people are literally waiting in line to buy nothing.

    Truly, they are the dead.

    M
    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Gulthek ( 12570 )
      What an odd post. An iPhone certainly isn't a month's income, nor is an iPod. Nor is a MacBook Pro for that matter.

      How is a laptop or computer capable of running all three major OSes "absent of value"? How is an iPod?
    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      Normally, I'd have to agree with you, however, if I'm dropping 1-2 grand on a new computer (in particular a laptop) I want to try it out first. I'd buy a desktop online no-questions asked, but for a laptop, I've been disappointed, not by the specification being off, but that it was extremely uncomfortable to type on, and the plastic shell felt like it was going to crack in half.

      I'm concerned about stability (its not going to break), weight (not too heavy), size (not too big), that the keyboard is comfortab
  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 22, 2008 @05:46PM (#23511780)
    I've never seen people waiting outside of a cube to be assimilated!
  • by Anonymous Coward
    It's been found out that the line was just a bunch of people wanting to purchase from the incoming shipment of current-generation iPhones...

    http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct=us/0-0&fp=483570bb44e45a71&ei=Suo1SMbdJY3q_AG6kIGnCw&url=http%3A//dvice.com/archives/2008/05/mystery_lineup.php&cid=0&usg=AFrqEzdpLsANqWrm6zwUT10e-6PmeMbnHg
  • The Jungle (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Wilson_6500 ( 896824 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @06:06PM (#23512012)
    I'm reminded of the bank run depicted in the Jungle, only with less panic.

    Of course, that scene depicted people with absolutely no disposable income desperate to get their money back in their own hands, whereas--minus the hysteria--this scene depicts people desperate to put their money into someone else's hands. How far we've come.
  • by hairykrishna ( 740240 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @06:35PM (#23512234)
    I mean; when people to queue up to buy something when they're not even sure what it IS that's a whole new level of success.
  • by 6350' ( 936630 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @07:21PM (#23512608)
    http://dvice.com/archives/2008/05/mystery_lineup.php [dvice.com]

    "By the time we got there, the lineup was gone, but a couple of helpful Apple blueshirts told us what was what: It turns out that the lineup wasn't for the widely -- and wildly -- rumored 3G iPhone. The store got a shipment of current iPhones this morning, apparently a rare occurrence these days, and when word got out, some touchscreen-hungry folks got in line to snatch up the few that came in."

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by nobodyman ( 90587 )
      Okay, so that confirms that they're idiots, right? I mean, by all accounts the 3G iPhone will be in stores in less than a month. For the same price as what is currently available.
  • Here's why (Score:4, Informative)

    by cats2ndlife ( 995125 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @07:57PM (#23512872)
    http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/05/22/apple_seeks_expert_in_wimax_impromptu_5th_ave_lineup_more.html [appleinsider.com] The answer to something seeming perplexing is usually something simple, if the observer has any common sense at all.
  • by DarthVain ( 724186 ) on Friday May 23, 2008 @11:37AM (#23518242)
    "...though most people seem confused about what they're waiting for..."

    So idiots line up at an Apple store, what else is new? How is this News?

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