No Apple Pop-Up Store at SXSW Interactive 2012 in Austin

Agggh! The wait plus all these rumors are killing me!!!

Did anyone really think the iPad was gonna go on sale the week of announcement?

MacFan23 said:

Did anyone really think the iPad was gonna go on sale the week of announcement?

Click to expand...

Why not.

In fact cutting down the time that the scalpers in places like NYC have to get their teams together by releasing it two days later would be a huge plus. Of course if they just make it by reservation only with zero walk ins for the first month, that would chill them out also. I'm sure Apple could, if they wanted to, watch for things like multiple Apple ID signups from the same IP, or with the same credit card or billing address etc to find those trying to game the system. Perhaps also had a 1 per day, 2 total limit for that first month to slow folks down.

They certainly need to do something cause the scalper games are getting ridiculous with the whole Hong Kong thing over the iPhone 4s being a prime example

charlituna said:

Why not.

In fact cutting down the time that the scalpers in places like NYC have to get their teams together by releasing it two days later would be a huge plus. Of course if they just make it by reservation only with zero walk ins for the first month, that would chill them out also. I'm sure Apple could, if they wanted to, watch for things like multiple Apple ID signups from the same IP, or with the same credit card or billing address etc to find those trying to game the system. Perhaps also had a 1 per day, 2 total limit for that first month to slow folks down.

They certainly need to do something cause the scalper games are getting ridiculous with the whole Hong Kong thing over the iPhone 4s being a prime example

Click to expand...

Avoiding leaks of functional units

Did the pop-up store last year appear to be successful?

charlituna said:

Why not.

Click to expand...

For one thing, the time for crowd control measures to be put in place around the many Apple stores. In many/most situations you're talking about temporary barriers, possibly security staff, and working with the landlords.

Making arrangements in advance of announcement sharply increases the likelihood of leaks. Having everything in place Thursday afternoon/evening in prep for Friday would be awfully tight to arrange if you wait until Wednesday afternoon to start lining up people.

Rocketman said:

Did the pop-up store last year appear to be successful?

Click to expand...

Lines around the block on Congress last year...ability to put the device into the hands of the high-end tech users at launch day...yes, I would say the pop-up was successful.
Did it make money for Apple? idk...and Apple isn't saying.

This is bad for @leolaporte and @sarahlane because that is how they got their iPad 2's last year.

I figured that I would do like last year and forgo the lines and order online and wait for to ship it to me.

Why not have a pop up store during the music week?? There are 10 times as many people there for music as there is for interactive.

MTShipp said:

This is bad for @leolaporte and @sarahlane because that is how they got their iPad 2's last year.

I figured that I would do like last year and forgo the lines and order online and wait for to ship it to me.

Click to expand...

The interactive part of SxSW will be over and they will be back in Petaluma most likely. If it does launch this Friday, Apple has 2 normal stores here in Austin, and they tend to get a ton of stock with how tech heavy the city is.

Not important...

Apple not having a pop-up store at SXSW has nothing to do with the release date for the iPad3 or iPad HD or whatever it will be called. With predictions of sales in the tens of millions of units in the first quarter of sales, Apple is running in different circles now. They are not dealing with a single digit market share like they have traditionally with the Mac. They don't do anything "minor" anymore.

They don't need to get the next iPad into the hands of some bloggers and web artists. SXSW has become less innovative and current. It is definitely trending lower. Even the homeless people in Austin have smartphones and Facebook pages. SXSW has become more like spring break without the beach. Since no one wants to go to Mexico anymore, and gas is so expensive, they just hang out in Austin for the week hoping to get into some free show, or eating a turkey leg. Nothing worse than a new iPad with turkey leg grease all over it.

msimpson said:

Apple not having a pop-up store at SXSW has nothing to do with the release date for the iPad3 or iPad HD or whatever it will be called.

Click to expand...

I would agree with this. Having the pop up store last year puts out the notion that Apple will always release the next iPad to have a store at SXSW. And we know how Apple feels about being forced into someone else's schedule.