Imagine if people stood in lines outside the grocery store because a new type of potato chip is released. Okay, nobody does that, so why do people stand in line for buying gadgets and tech?
The iPhone 2.0 will be in plentiful supply on July 11th. One would expect that to be the case. So why stand in line for days on end? And, honestly, where do people find the time to stand in line for that amount of time? I assume that the people in those lines actually work somewhere. Do they take a few vacation days off to partake in the experience? Or are they self-employed?
I have a lot of questions, because I have never once stood in line outside a store for any type of product (tech or otherwise). So, honestly, besides gaining worldwide attention, why do they do it?
-Krishna
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depends on the item. With the Nintendo Wii it was more often than not that people waited in line to get one to resell at a profit.
I stood in line for the Wii. Mostly because the only place in my town that sold them did a midnight launch, and only had 7.
It wasn’t a “wait for three days in the cold and rain” kind of event… I only, personally waited 4 hours, in the warm comfort of the store, with friends, and a bunch of other strangers with whom we enjoyed several awesome matches of Mario Kart DS. The store staff gave us food and swag, and it was pretty fun!
I guess I also waited outside for Halo 3, but that was only because I called them an hour before the midnight launch, didn’t feel like sleeping, and couldn’t think of anything better to do at 11pm on a Thursday night.
My take is that the craze of waiting in line is directly tied to the craze of consumer debt (and defaults). That is, a lot of people can’t discern “need” from “want” and therefore need instant gratification at the expense of [financial] logic. I would stand in line for food; I would never stand in line for a gadget. Shoot, I’m deeply involved in gaming technology… and I don’t own a console… and I don’t plan to get one. But all of you, KEEP BUYING. You NEED a CONSOLE… so I can make my numbers. :)
I never wait in those sorts of lines either, because I hate waiting in lines. People do it for bragging rights, and I have better things to do with my time.
The only time I went to a store to get something when it was just released was when Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix came out, and then only because Wal Mart was on the way home from work, and even then only because it was 2 am and I figured the midnight release rush would be over (it was, the store was empty).
I did for the burning crusade, but I had five people come with me and they where giving away stuff and free pizza, most people ignored the pizza so we got to take a box of it home with us.
We installed and played until the next day.
But no wow is boring and none of us play anymore.
Diablo 3 soon!!