Apple Stores Creating Fake Lines At Stores

[Rybold]

At the South Coast Plaza store, there were about a thousand (yes, a thousand) people lined up outside of the store in the middle of the afternoon (3pm) on Friday. Inside the store, the line went directly to the counter (POS), but the rest of the store was deserted. After walking around the mall for about 30min, I passed the Apple store on my way out and noticed THE SAME PEOPLE at the door of the Apple store (the line had not moved one person), yet there were about 10 employees standing outside the store in a circle just chatting away. Couldn't those employees have been doing something? Now, I understand that in the morning the iTunes server became overloaded and therefore the employees could justify standing because if iTunes wasn't working the couldn't do their job. But this was the afternoon, after the servers were back up.

But guess what, that's not why I think Apple is creating artificial lines - here is the reason: there is no way in heck that a thousand people were going to get a phone that day! I drove to an AT&T store closer to my house (Irvine), and there was virtually no one in the store. When I walked in the 3G phone was on display and I got to play around with it, and within a minute of entering the store, I asked an AT&T employee if they had any in stock, and without any deceptive talk, I was told that they were out of stock and that they would only be getting a few per day. They were honest and told me I probably wouldn't be able to just walk in the store and buy one for about a week or two. They gave me a business card and told me to just call ahead in the morning before I make a trip to the store. I said thanks. They said "your welcome" with a smile. At the Apple Store they would have said "Get back in line with the rest of the cattle, you Apple nerd!"

 

[drtyrell]

fake hype?

Trying telling that two the virtual sea of people in line at the apple store at perimeter mall today...

Hehe...not in the absolute extremist way. I mean for passers by my friend. Geesh...touch on a flaw in Apple's strategy and you have a deluge of defenders. I run a million dollar business. I know a good idea when I see one. The line wasn't a bad idea. I just think blocking support and alternate sales was a seriously stupid mistake.

When OSX.5 came out, I rushed over to a store and waited in a huge line. It was an OSX line, and it entered on the right of the store. There was a wait, and there two dozen Apple employees filling orders from handheld units. That was progress and a great idea. If iTunes is down, simply tell the customer, "I can sell you one right now, but you won't be able to activate it in the store. Is that okay?" to which the customer would say, "%$#& YEAH IT IS!"

Consequently, the left side of the store was packed with buying customers. It was better managed, and better thought out. That's all.

 

[Bretskate]

I was there at the Fashion Island Apple store. I waiting in line about 4 hours yesterday from 7 pm - 11pm and I agree the lines did not work. I was about to go into the store line then the ATT servers crashed again so they wrote our names down on a List so we could just walk in to pick up your phone the next day so I did around 11 am. The only let people in the were on the list on waiting in line for their iPhone.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Because sales for the iPhone are clearly tanking and there is a need to create "fake" lines or "fake" hype.

 

[WillJS]

At my Apple Store they were actually turning people away with Genius Bar appointments, phone problems, Mac problems, and even potential buyers. They could, however, stand in a 5 hour line.

 

[RBilRamZ]

Proven incorrect...

I just walked by my Newport Beach CA USA store and noticed this fairly large line along the side of the building. It was high noon the first time I saw it, and around 2 pm on the second pass. This is a large store, and I was having a hard time believing that a line was necessary. I commented to my girlfriend that I bet they're creating this hype outside the store.

Sure enough, as I rounded the corner on my second pass I stepped up to the window and found a store that was virtually empty. The entire right side had something like 6 people watching a demo of what I think was the phone. The left half of the store had more employees than customers. All I could think was "pathetic."

The front of the store was swarmed with "potential" customers who were asking if they could come in to buy non-iPhone items without waiting in line. They were all turned away for the end of the line.

The line was obviously NOT working. They were gating real customers with real money all to try and create the false impression that the entire world wants to be AT&T customers.

This is an outright lie. I live in Newport and went to the Fashion Island store today. My wife bought a 3G iPhone yesterday, and we went back to the island today to buy some accessories. The line was amazingly long, but we were allowed in immediately since we weren't buying a phone. Once inside, the store was so full it was uncomfortable. I am looking at my reciept from 2:41 today, so I know I'm not lying. Go try to sell your lake front property elsewhere.

 

[MacPM8]

Oh yes. You speak the truth. PF Chang's is also good.

PF in Fashion Island is awesome. Love the atmosphere.

 

[MacPM8]

Got to agree with some people here who went to fashion island, i was there yesterday late afternoon and saw a pretty massive line, i just wanted to go in the store to take a look at the display models so i stood to the left of the door to be let in. they have one side of the store for people strictly buying the iphone and one side for all other purposes, i thought it worked out quite well. you cant beat the view you get at pf or cheescake by the way!

 

[Apple Ink]

Maybe true... maybe not!

But I dont see a point why Apple, already baffled by its server business, would shell out more money in trying to arrange a thousand people who have nothing better to do than stand in a dumb fake que all day long?

 

[mag2001]

There was still a line here in san antonio @ la cantera but only working with 2 customers at a time