Article: Can’t Get An iPad 2? Blame It On Asians

[Phil A.]

See any white folk in this line?

So that's all the unauthorized resellers in one short line is it? Gee, I don't see why it's a problem then if there are only around 50 unauthorized resellers in the entire USA and they are all stood in one single line </sarcasm>

On a serious note, you're not now saying that all asians are resellers are you?

 

[BadMoon]

So that's all the unauthorized resellers in one short line is it? Gee, I don't see why it's a problem then if there are only around 50 unauthorized resellers in the entire USA and they are all stood in one single line </sarcasm>

On a serious note, you're not now saying that all asians are resellers are you?

Of course not. LOL! Now that would be silly. However, the article's title is hardly racist IMO. When you have 300 Asian people standing in line and people are watching them hand deliver them to their pimp one by one it's hard to deny that fact. It's not like they are using racist terms for them. They are in fact Asian people. Plain and simple. Nothing racist about that.

 

[aluren]

Of course not. LOL! Now that would be silly. However, the article's title is hardly racist IMO. When you have 300 Asian people standing in line and people are watching them hand deliver them to their pimp one by one it's hard to deny that fact. It's not like they are using racist terms for them. They are in fact Asian people. Plain and simple. Nothing racist about that.

Scalpers/resellers and Asians are two different things. That is plain and simple.

 

[iRabbit]

Scalpers/resellers and Asians are two different things. That is plain and simple.

Of course they are two different things. But since the vast majority of the resellers/scalpers are also asian, it is not inaccurate, or racist, to describe them as such.

I bet if the headline read "Apple iPad 2 Sales at record highs! Thank the Asians!" you wouldn't be crying about racism.

Sometimes a word used to describe someone is just a description, nothing more.

 

[Phil A.]

Of course not. LOL! Now that would be silly. However, the article's title is hardly racist IMO. When you have 300 Asian people standing in line and people are watching them hand deliver them to their pimp one by one it's hard to deny that fact. It's not like they are using racist terms for them. They are in fact Asian people. Plain and simple. Nothing racist about that.

But why bring their race into it at all? It's completely irrelevant. What's relevant is that scalpers / unauthorized resellers are taking up all the stocks of iPads.

I'm sure there are people of all races reselling their iPads and adding to the problem so why single out a single race to shoulder the blame? The simple fact that they say "blame Asians" (i.e. the race) rather than "Blame scalpers" (i.e. the action) makes it racist.

What if an American citizen of Chinese descent decides to line up for an iPad 2 and receives abuse from someone who has read that article and decides it's their fault that there are no iPads (they are, after all, "Asian")? Is that acceptable?

 

[iRabbit]

But why bring their race into it at all? It's completely irrelevant. What's relevant is that scalpers / unauthorized resellers are taking up all the stocks of iPads.

It's hardly irrelevant when a great number of them are ending up being sold to consumers in Asian countries!

Jeez, people need to stop being so sensitive. A huge number of asian resellers are scooping up lots of ipads to sell to asian consumers in asian countries. Those are facts. There's nothing racist about it!

 

[Mr. Biggles]

It's hardly irrelevant when a great number of them are ending up being sold to consumers in Asian countries!

Jeez, people need to stop being so sensitive. A huge number of asian resellers are scooping up lots of ipads to sell to asian consumers in asian countries. Those are facts. There's nothing racist about it!

Exactly right.

Those that read more into it need to get a grip.

 

[barkomatic]

There are a lot of people of other races who are reselling iPads--believe me. It's just that in NYC, it appears that Asians are more organized than most with people standing in line taking shifts. There is no point in focusing on the race of the people involved because obviously Apple isn't going to create a policy preventing Asian people from buying iPads.

This is ultimately Apple's problem--not ours. Although the iPad may be the best tablet on the market, its meaningless if they are unavailable to the average person. They may have the best retail prices, but that is also meaningless if the only reliable way to get one is to pay some shady person $800 for a 16gb wifi only iPad.

There are new, interesting tablets being announced this very day and one already on the market -- which can be purchased at a retail store without wasting time waiting in line or paying an inflated price. This reselling debacle is creating an excellent opportunity for competitors to gain market share when they otherwise couldn't. I expect that next year there will be a reservation system in place with strict limits.

 

[IbisDoc]

How about this for a more appropriate title: "Can't get an iPad 2? Blame it on worthless pieces of crap who need to get real jobs."

 

[BadMoon]

What if an American citizen of Chinese descent decides to line up for an iPad 2 and receives abuse from someone who has read that article and decides it's their fault that there are no iPads (they are, after all, "Asian")? Is that acceptable?

That's just hyperbole and dumb. Of course that wouldn't be okay. Are you expecting people to say "yeah sure go ahead"? Lame.

The fact is in big cities Asian people are lining up in the 100's to resell an ipad 2 to make some spare change. Do I think it's shady? Sure! Do I think more people should cause a fuss and bypass this line and see what happens? Sure! Do I think more people should have ordered online instead of having the "gotta have it today mentality"? Sure!

Lets face the facts here. There are pictures all over the internet and on this very forum of huge lines of Asian people waiting to buy their fill of 2 ipads. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see this.

 

[MSUSpartan]

There are probably groups of other ethnicity doing the same elsewhere in the suburbs and smaller cities, they might just blend in better. You hear stories of kids bringing their grandparents along or sisters and brothers to score extra iPads to put on eBay. They just don't get singled out because they don't look different than the general population. That folks, is racism.

 

[melkorsbane]

LOL. Since when is "Asian" a race? Russians are in Asia too. Would saying "Blame it on the Europeans" also be racist? How about "blame it on the South Americans!"? Yeah, I think we're throwing that word around too heavily, just like with "heroes", just like a previous poster said.

That said, I blame shortages on Apple. They would have to be stupid to think that this product wouldn't be a big deal on launch. Make and ship more units, on top of several other improved practices like some recommended by the original poster would circumvent this problem.

 

[aristobrat]

the problem is Apples decision to look away from a problem happening right in front of their eyes forcing CONSUMERS to handle the CORPORATE problem of International Resale.

What a load of crap.

For the original iPad launch, Apple looked directly at the problem that you're complaining they're not looking at now. They had a pretty sweet system in place that put a huge dent into the reselling business that's now going on. And you know what? People complained about it. "Oh, it's not fair that Apple's not accepting cash for iPads. They're discriminating! Not everyone can have a credit/debit card with their name on it. Wahh Wahh Wahhhhh". So for this launch, Apple rolls over to please those customers, and look what happens.

Watch this story:
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/7_on_your_side&id=7447037

 

[Cool Hwhip]

Solution: line up before the scalpers get there.

 

[DizzyV6P]

Maybe because some of those that "read" more into it have grown up having other people always telling them that? It's precisely this kind of attitude that Asian Americans are always subject to these sort of institutionalized racism in the media. Don't be so sensitive? Why not? Where do you draw the line? When people think its ok to pick on Asian Americans, it starts to be accepted and then you have headlines like the Michelle Kwan being beat by an American, Tara Lipinski regardless of the fact that both are Americans AND on Team USA. Heck, you even have the headline we're discussing now blaming all Asians for the reason why no one can find any iPad 2's.

Why even bring race into it? Like I mentioned before, I challenge ANYONE to find a headline similar to this that mention African Americans. You won't because its a huge no-no to even bring up race when it comes to African Americans.

It's hardly fact that most of the resellers are Asian. I hardly call NYC representative of America. When I was in line at Apple last week, none of the "resellers" in line were Asian (They even had an argument w/ the Apple employee on how many they could buy so everyone knows they were resellers). That also doesn't explain the race-baiting headlines. As someone already posted, it was done to sell papers. That doesn't mean its right either.

Edit: I took another look at the Gizmodo ad. It's based in Austrailia and refers to the New York Post article which DOES NOT have what I would consider a racist title.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/under_cover_buyers_aWXd2o3v83UvysMg7dqPdO

So I guess its ok for Austrailian media to print race-baiting articles. Maybe Gizmodo USA should take a look at this before they get slammed by a lawsuit

 

[MSUSpartan]

Maybe because some of those that "read" more into it have grown up having other people always telling them that? It's precisely this kind of attitude that Asian Americans are always subject to these sort of institutionalized racism in the media. Don't be so sensitive? Why not? Where do you draw the line? When people think its ok to pick on Asian Americans, it starts to be accepted and then you have headlines like the Michelle Kwan being beat by an American, Tara Lipinski regardless of the fact that both are Americans AND on Team USA. Heck, you even have the headline we're discussing now blaming all Asians for the reason why no one can find any iPad 2's.

Why even bring race into it? Like I mentioned before, I challenge ANYONE to find a headline similar to this that mention African Americans. You won't because its a huge no-no to even bring up race when it comes to African Americans.

Exactly. This is why we still have "yellowfaces" in Hollywood films but no more "blackfaces". No, Tropic Thunder does not count. It's not ok to pick on a race just because they're not backed by stronger groups/activists.

 

[tritonj]

Maybe because some of those that "read" more into it have grown up having other people always telling them that? It's precisely this kind of attitude that Asian Americans are always subject to these sort of institutionalized racism in the media. Don't be so sensitive? Why not? Where do you draw the line? When people think its ok to pick on Asian Americans, it starts to be accepted and then you have headlines like the Michelle Kwan being beat by an American, Tara Lipinski regardless of the fact that both are Americans AND on Team USA. Heck, you even have the headline we're discussing now blaming all Asians for the reason why no one can find any iPad 2's.

Why even bring race into it? Like I mentioned before, I challenge ANYONE to find a headline similar to this that mention African Americans. You won't because its a huge no-no to even bring up race when it comes to African Americans.

It's hardly fact that most of the resellers are Asian. I hardly call NYC representative of America. When I was in line at Apple last week, none of the "resellers" in line were Asian (They even had an argument w/ the Apple employee on how many they could buy so everyone knows they were resellers). That also doesn't explain the race-baiting headlines. As someone already posted, it was done to sell papers. That doesn't mean its right either.

Edit: I took another look at the Gizmodo ad. It's based in Austrailia and refers to the New York Post article which DOES NOT have what I would consider a racist title.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/under_cover_buyers_aWXd2o3v83UvysMg7dqPdO

So I guess its ok for Austrailian media to print race-baiting articles. Maybe Gizmodo USA should take a look at this before they get slammed by a lawsuit

exactly...

 

[Consultant]

Ok folks.

Gizmodo is KNOWN for baiting articles. You fell for it.

 

[tritonj]

Ok folks.

Gizmodo is KNOWN for baiting articles. You fell for it.

you miss the point it isn't just the article it is the overall sentiment that has been going around that is the bigger issue

 

[MSUSpartan]

Ok folks.

Gizmodo is KNOWN for baiting articles. You fell for it.

Oh ok, when you put it that way, it's all ok now.

 

[KittyKatta]

@KittyKatta
This was one of the best written and most thought out posts on MRF re: the scalper problem.

Thanks, but as you can see by the threads direction (as well as every other thread using an ADJECTIVE to describe the resellers) then everyone is so caught up with a non-existant "race issue" that they ignore how this affects the entire country.

Large cities receive the largest allocation of units because they have the densest population of Apple customers. But if most of the daily inventory is being sold to the same 20-200 people who then flip to to an international market then maybe Apple should intervene.

People shouldn't be expected to drive to other less populated cities only because resellers make their chances better in Jersey than in Manhattan. That's not a good image for Apple and it taints the whole "Apple Experience" we all talk about.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

I'm in a town that's basically a piss break between NYC and Boston and resellers were out in force today and had been waiting since midnight. Just glad I got what I wanted but it was sad watching these people being pimped for a few hundred dollars.

 

[NYY FaN]

I went to an apple store for a genius appointment before they even opened up for the day, and saw a huge line around the store.. I noticed that there were a bunch of asian people in line. Now, keep in mind, this apple store is in an area that is not known to be populated with asians.. its your typical ritzy white person town.

on a side note.. it was a great feeling walking into the store bypassing all those people with an ipad in hand, and walking back out passed them with a brand new sealed ipad.

 

[aristobrat]

That's not a good image for Apple and it taints the whole "Apple Experience" we all talk about.

The same point was made during last years iPad launch when Apple limited major reselling activities by not accepting cash or generic cards.

So what's the solution?

 

[spinedoc77]

People shouldn't be expected to drive to other less populated cities only because resellers make their chances better in Jersey than in Manhattan. That's not a good image for Apple and it taints the whole "Apple Experience" we all talk about.

It's not just the large cities. I'm in a small to medium sized city in between hartford and boston, there is not a particularly large asian population out here. But in the half dozen times I've seen lines at the Apple store the lines have been predominantly asian, I wondered why for a long time until I saw these posts.

While I agree that the article is NOT racist, they are only stating facts, they should probably say it's due to the scalpers or the international market and not necessarily single out asians if they have nothing more than their own eyesight to confirm. Who knows, in a different city it could be a different minority or majority who is scalping and reselling them.