Apple Mac OS X Tiger Launch Events

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif

Apple is hosting Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger release events around the world tonight to celebrate the launch of Mac OS X Tiger.

Attend the world premiere event at all Apple stores, Friday, April 29, 6:00 p.m. to midnight, for a hands-on introduction to Tiger. With more than 200 new features, it’s the most advanced Mac OS ever. Win a PowerBook G4, an iPod or other prizes.*

Scratch-off Instant win cards are being handed out at the door of official Apple Stores with prizes including iTunes songs, 10% Off Purchases, iPods and PowerBooks. Discounts are only good for tonight.

A full list of prizes and odds of winning are provided by Apple based on your store here (PDF).

[ibookowner2]

thats a lot of money per store

[AidenShaw]

any news of iMac updates?

[johnnyastro]

Was it just me, or was this the most disappointing launch party ever? no cool t-shirts, dog tags,or mouse pads, not even anything on sale. I won a free iTunes song. Big whoop. I could have stayed home and drank a pepsi and gotten the same thing.

[gorkonapple]

Just got back. I ordered mine so I had it earlier today and am typing on it NOW. My shiney new iPod Shuffle (1 GB) is in my USB hub full of music and charging away! I did not win it, but I did get a 10 percent card and my loving wife gave me her iTune card. I ended up not using the 10 percent on my iPod because I could use my EDU discount. I handed it to the couple initially infront of me because they told me they wanted to get a new Powerbook if they had the 10 percent card. Gave it to them and walked out. Turn out in Columbus was INCREDIBLE. I have NEVER, not even during Christmas seen that many people at the Apple Store. I was surprised there was no news media. They closed the parking spots in front of the store and had some of our counties finest with the Easton Town Center security guards also standing watch. The mood was jovial among everyone. I held my box up triumphantly before I crossed the street and got some cheers. I got in the door in the first group and there were STILL people getting in live when I left! It was a experience I will never forget. I took a pic on my cam phone. I can e-mail it to some one that has space for posting it up here. The line went form the store to almost out to the main drag and once let in, it was PACKED. I was floored. Liking my TIGER, my iPod and my 16 new iTunes I got with it! Yeah, no free stuff beyond the iTune, but I don't care! It was fun as hell and I was glad to be a part of it!

[BornAgainMac]

I won 10% off anything in the store. Except Tiger. Yea...

[d.perel]

Personally, I think it would be pretty sweet to win a Dual 2.7 G5, iPod Photo 60gb, and full Final Cut Studio suite as a door prize
....But thats just me. Some would be happy with just a 512mb shuffle

[MustardMan]

I thought this launch party kinda sucked. I went there just for free schwag and to see if there were any decent sales. Not so much as a lousy keychain. What a waste of almost an hour waiting in line.

[anubis]

I bet I got my copy of Tiger in the most unique way.

I got it through my University's bookstore. The bookstore on my campus also runs a small J&J type convinence store on campus adjecent to the main bookstore. The main bookstore area closes at 5:30, but the release party doesn't start until 6, so what is the bookstore to do? Well, sell Tiger at the J&J of course!

So I've got some sweet pictures of me getting my copy of Tiger as well as a 512MB iPod Shuffle for $50 (that's what the bookstore got to do as a promotion, as opposed to the Apple Store's giveaways) at a small J&J-type convinence store!

People are going to see the pictures and be like, "wow, your 7-11 sells Mac stuff? sweet!"

[ImAlwaysRight]

Originally Posted by johnnyastro

Was it just me, or was this the most disappointing launch party ever?.

This was my first Apple Event party and I am also disappointed. I read of the other give-a-ways from past parties, and I read somewhere of possible Tiger T-shirts at this party, so I was first in line at the Houston Galleria store at 4:15. When 6pm rolled around, the 30 or so staff inside the store started clapping and getting all pumped up. I received my scratch card, revealing the consolation prize of 10% off. Too bad the only thing I'm going to buy is a new iMac, which has not been released yet. I left after 2 minutes empty handed.

I then drove over to Microcenter, who is offering a $50 MIR for Tiger. Only 6 other people in the Apple section there. Picked up a USB 2 4-port hub for $13. Then went to CompUSA, and only one other person in the Apple section there. CUSA has a drawing for an iPod, and looking at the people that were there, I probably have a 1 in 25 chance of winning. They are suppose to call by 9PM if I win. I was more excited about that then the disappointing Apple Store party, because I felt like I have a real chance of winning something there.

[Where's Drew?]

Was there no general 10% off this time around?

I went to the Tokyo event yesterday evening (blog report here - 29 April entry) and my scratch ticket got me a Spotlight keychain. I bought a PowerBook (15" combo drive) and was given the 10% off when I asked for it. I mentioned the deal during the Jaguar and Panther launches, but wasn't sure what the scoop was for Tiger since there were no Apple stores in Japan for either of the previous two launches.

When I was at the register the guy who was helping me said I could get 10% off Applecare if I bought it with the PB, but I declined. I did get an Airport Express for 10% off though.

I thought maybe they weren't going to announce the 10% off until later in the event, once the line had gone down and the store cleared out some. (I left at 6:20 and the line to get in was still 2.5 blocks long.)

[MacNemesis]

I was lucky enough to win an Airport Express! Although the gal in front of me won the powerbook at the Cincinnati store. Most people ever I've seen at the apple store. The first time I've seen the 30" display in person. It's absolutely criminal. It takes days to move your mouse from left to right. You need to take a break!

Anyway, EDU Tiger in hand, all is good. And not that we weren't sure before, but Core Image is NOT enabled on the Mac Mini's (I did a System Profiler from the store). It's still fast, though and works like a charm on my PB Al 15"

[sw1tcher]

Originally Posted by johnnyastro

Was it just me, or was this the most disappointing launch party ever? no cool t-shirts, dog tags,or mouse pads, not even anything on sale. I won a free iTunes song. Big whoop. I could have stayed home and drank a pepsi and gotten the same thing.

Most. Disappointing. Launch. Ever.

No t-shirts. No keychain. No dog tag. Just a free iTunes song. Was hoping to get a 10 percent discount to pick up a new PowerBook. Oh well. Guess I'll hold out until the next iBook or PowerBook update.

So bummed...

[WickedBunny]

I'm a recent switcher and I was so looking forward to this "event" because I had heard the others have been cool. I love my Mac and thought I'd be tempted into buying a lot of other goodies. I even managed to convince my buddy to go with me. But, it was so disappointing. (Of course, this is NC so I shouldn't expect too much, right?) Got there an hour early and there was a line (about 70 in front of me). All they gave away were the cards. (Whoohoo, free iTune). No shirts, nothing. The staff seemed disorganized and they didn't really demo anything at first. Anyway, we left to go eat. Came back and there was no line, went in (another free iTune, whoohoo!) Saw an Automator demo that was horrible. It crashed on him, then the next thing he tried didn't work at all. He tried something else and it kind of worked (it was supposed to prompt him and it wouldn't). Nothing at all tempted me. Plus, I thought they'd advertise the 10% off but I didn't see anything so I didn't know about it. Shame cuz I had the $ and the itch to buy.

On the bright side, Tiger looks awesome and it was nice to talk to other switchers and Mac fans that our local. For some reason, I can't find that many around here.

[dvdiva]

Yeah I only got the 10% off also. I was tempted to go to the back of the line but judging from how many tickets were in the box I'd be better off getting a scratch ticket from the state lottery.

[supergod]

Yes, we all know how dissapointing it is when Apple doesn't give you free stuff...
Anyways, how about the amazing new HD trailers?! The one for batman is quite awesome, although I find it a bit weird that the image quality is so great and yet the sound comes out so muffled and distorted, especially in the bass. H.264 seems pretty rad for the moment. I wonder how long it will be before they re-incode all their trailers in the format, just for smaller size. Also, probably just because of Safari, but don't the downloads for trailers in quicktime seem much faster now?
Right now I'm encoding a DVD into H.263 with Handbrak .70 on my powermac G5 1.6ghz, and it is pretty slow. I'm backing the DVD up so that I can use it for a school assignment and I'm not in a rush, but I'm only getting around 5fps, compared to about 20fps for DivX. Oh well, i'm hoping it looks noticably better with less artifacts and such (turning it into a 1.25 gig file).

[cgundlach]

Probably not a lot of people excited by this, but I am. I was going to hold off on Tiger, now I guess I am going to be buying it tomorrow.

[jimsowden]

Damn! that h.264 HD gallery is HOT!

[wdlove]

Originally Posted by sw1tcher

Most. Disappointing. Launch. Ever.

No t-shirts. No keychain. No dog tag. Just a free iTunes song. Was hoping to get a 10 percent discount to pick up a new PowerBook. Oh well. Guess I'll hold out until the next iBook or PowerBook update.

So bummed...

I was hoping for the 10% discount also. Wore my dog tags to the event. According to Where's Drew?, it sounds as though the 10% discount was available if you ask. That is a real bummer. Took advantage in 2003. Now will have to wait until late 2006 or early 2007 for another chance.

[dmelgar]

I went to the Tiger event prepared to walk out with a my first Mac, a decked out Mini using the 10% discount everyone said would be in effect.

Instead I got a free itunes song. Big whoop. And they wouldn't give me another card.

What a complete waste. They give 10% discounts to people who have no interest in buying anything, and me wanting to spend a thousand dollars can't get the discount. All it does is create ill will.

I've been trying to buy a Mini from the store in NC since January. They always manage to convince me not to buy. In February I wanted to buy, but they said you couldn't add wireless to the Mini's they had. Told me to order online. Then Tiger was coming out, figured I'd wait for it to be announced to avoid the $130 charge. Go to the store after announce and they were out of the decked out model that had told me they now stock. So I left again. Then heard about the 10% off, might as well wait for that. Go back to the store, to find no discount and no one particularly interested in selling me a system.

I give. Maybe a PC isn't so bad afterall, no problem walking into a store getting what I want.

I must admit too that as a stockholder, I was underwhelmed. Apple can't afford to be making this type of collosal marketing blunder. The stock price is too high for this type of mistake. Encourages me to ditch the stock before more iPod competitors come around.

[Archmagination]

Hmm.. steep system requirements to see the HD gallery... hmph we will see if my little G4 1ghz, 784mb Ram, 128 Radeon Pro system can handle it... from what apple says it can't, but I would like to try.

[tmiller12]

Well, I won a 1GB iPod Shuffle...actually, I went in with two other people, out of our three tickets, two of us won the iPod Shuffle...that was cool...but I agree, I was underwhelmed at the release...I am a current PC owner who is TRYING to switch...but I am also waiting for the updated iMacs...because I think that will be the best option for me. It would have been nice to have systems ready to go with Tiger pre-installed on them...to go out the door...especially if an update is going to happen relatively soon.

[DavidCar]

Originally Posted by johnnyastro

Was it just me, or was this the most disappointing launch party ever? no cool t-shirts, dog tags,or mouse pads, not even anything on sale. I won a free iTunes song. Big whoop. I could have stayed home and drank a pepsi and gotten the same thing.

I went looking for an OSX Tiger window sticker, with no luck.

I got the rep to try rotating a 30" display with Tiger, but it wouldn't display the option because it said (after a search) the display wouldn't do it. I don't know what the card was.

No phone call yet, so I guess I didn't win the iPod shuffle.

[JackSYi]

I went to CompUSA for the launch with a few buddies of mine, they had snacks and stuff, I managed to grab like 5 of those Spotlight Flashlight Keychains and the Dashboard window sticker. I was thinking of going to Los Angeles for the launch, good thing I didn't and instead went to my local CompUSA. I got Tiger yesturday anyways.

[Stella]

In toronto it was better than usual.. a free apple give away.. though not much, but more than previous times.

A lot of the apple resellers had some sort of launch party.. Computer System centre opened until 12.. which proved to be useful :-)