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Article: Cant Get An iPad 2? Blame It On Asians
- Thread starter KittyKatta
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Maybe they took the Fung-Wah bus. They were out in force at Westfarms this morning.
No because it makes fun of Hollywood using black faces, instead of actually trying to act like asians with yellowface make up.
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The fact that the majority of resellers are in fact Asian IS indeed relevant. Do you think "Mr. Lo" in the article is advertising his services in east Harlem, Spanish Harlem, or even Bensonhurst?
I'll answer that for you: no. The destination of these iPads is to the rich elite in Asia (primarily China and Hong kong), this necessitates suppliers (scalpers and resellers) and shippers (smugglers) to these locations that have grey market connections, and presumably are familiars with the culture and language.
To state this truth is not racist, nor is it judgmental. It's just reality that Asians are absorbing a significant supply of US domestic iPads for foreign sale. Now if you want to lay blame as to who's at fault, IMHO it's all on Apple.
Apple neither provides the iPads that are wanted in Asia, nor do they do anything about scalping and smuggling. The next Apple shows an ipad video to the press, they should include the (primarily) Asian resellers and smugglers that have happily waited in line, bought, and re-sold their coveted product.
The fact that the majority of resellers are in fact Asian IS indeed relevant. Do you think "Mr. Lo" in the article is advertising his services in east Harlem, Spanish Harlem, or even Bensonhurst?
I'll answer that for you: no. The destination of these iPads is to the rich elite in Asia (primarily China and Hong kong), this necessitates suppliers (scalpers and resellers) and shippers (smugglers) to these locations that have grey market connections, and presumably are familiars with the culture and language.
To state this truth is not racist, nor is it judgmental. It's just reality that Asians are absorbing a significant supply of US domestic iPads for foreign sale. Now if you want to lay blame as to who's at fault, IMHO it's all on Apple.
Apple neither provides the iPads that are wanted in Asia, nor do they do anything about scalping and smuggling. The next Apple shows an ipad video to the press, they should include the (primarily) Asian resellers and smugglers that have happily waited in line, bought, and re-sold their coveted product.
I'm not familiar with last years situation so I apologize if I missed something, but isn't what you mentioned the solution? If there's 200 resellers in line and Apple says "No Cash Purchases" then that frees up 400 iPads (2per reseller) for the credit card users. Sure, there's some cash buyers who aren't resellers you are upsetting but I'd rather Apple upset the 1% that can't get a credit card rather than 100% who didn't know you're supposed to sleep in the rain in order to beat out resellers.
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Unless there's an alien invasion and we all unite as a human race (or species in that case), I think I saw that in Independence Day
funny that's the same argument KKK, aryan nation, and just about any other racist group will use to justify certain remarks, they'll say it is truth. it is a very fine line and one that people should just avoid as a general rule, you gain nothing by inching toward it. it is just as accurate to say scaplers/resellers are the cause of a shortage, adding any definition to that group does nothing but stir the pot in one way or the other
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I find your hyperbole insulting to Blacks and Jews who have indeed suffered at the hands of the KKK and neo nazis.. No one has suffered because of an Asian scalper. Inconvenienced? Sure. Your slippery slope logic has no relevance for an open discussion as to who the resellers are and why their entire operation exists.
tritonj said:
I find your hyperbole insulting to Blacks and Jews who have indeed suffered at the hands of the KKK and neo nazis.. No one has suffered because of an Asian scalper. Inconvenienced? Sure. Your slippery slope logic has no relevance for an open discussion as to who the resellers are and why their entire operation exists.
But do know that anti-asian sentiments have existed since they first immigrated to this great country. The reason many Chinatowns and Tongs were formed, were for asian americans to protect themselves from such sentiments. There are tales of massacre in the west during the gold rush period, the internment camps for the Japanese Americans, and Chinese were excluded from immigration to the US until mid 20th century.
I think all tritonj meant is that, it all starts somewhere and there's a fine line until the general public turns on a particular group. We're all just people and it can happen quickly. You can already feel the anti-chinese sentiments in our daily news at times, this article is a good example.
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The term 'Asian' is so generic and nebulous. Asian can mean Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, malaysian etc etc. If people are are screaming racist, I do agree on some points that the writer is rather ignorant on racial categories (just like whites can mean so many nationalities!).
I am of Singaporean descent, which makes me Asian as well. I just got my iPad from SF Union Sq apple flagship store after a 4hrs Q (fresh stocks came in tdy ad of 22/3 but sold out by noon)and am very elated indeed! However, some of the observations in the article were kinda true - many Asians, or shld I be more precise - Mainlander Chinese were abusing the limited stocks for a profit.
Within 30mins of the store's opening, I witnessed 2 Mainlander Chinese (I can recognize their chinese accent) putting up their newly bought iPads for sale at the corner of the block where the lines were still horrendously long! What a shame!
Took a photo of the couple and they shouted at me!
http://yfrog.com/gzsyyogj
The term 'Asian' is so generic and nebulous. Asian can mean Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, malaysian etc etc. If people are are screaming racist, I do agree on some points that the writer is rather ignorant on racial categories (just like whites can mean so many nationalities!).
I am of Singaporean descent, which makes me Asian as well. I just got my iPad from SF Union Sq apple flagship store after a 4hrs Q (fresh stocks came in tdy ad of 22/3 but sold out by noon)and am very elated indeed! However, some of the observations in the article were kinda true - many Asians, or shld I be more precise - Mainlander Chinese were abusing the limited stocks for a profit.
Within 30mins of the store's opening, I witnessed 2 Mainlander Chinese (I can recognize their chinese accent) putting up their newly bought iPads for sale at the corner of the block where the lines were still horrendously long! What a shame!
Took a photo of the couple and they shouted at me!
http://yfrog.com/gzsyyogj
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Anti Asian sentiment still exists today.
Did you know that Asians can't buy real estate in Florida?
Yes, there is a law in Florida that makes it illegal to buy property there.
http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gy...anti_asian_legacy_lives_on/Content?oid=558112
My mom owns a house in FL and I own some land near Sarasota.
Seriously. All these people who think they are fighting racism are actually causing it by constantly accusing everyone of being racist. The topic is about the iPad yet everyones focus is on the adjective used to describe the people who are claiming them?!? Go read some books about this country only a few decades ago and you'll see what "Racism" really is because all these petty "racism" accusations are ridiculous.
Edit: Sorry for the outburst, but NOBODY is actively pursuing asians in order to demean them so all the "racist" cries or comparisons to KKK are way out of line. The only reason Asians are being called out isn't because of hate, its because they are involved in claiming entire shipments of iPads to be sent out of the country.
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Gee - this whole your racist crap card is getting tiresome.
Its obvious that Asian origin people are at the fronts of tons of US queues and are getting hand outs of cash to buy the damn things.
That is a fact, hardly racist is it.
If I rephrase that to "those bloody...." then call me racist
Its obvious that Asian origin people are at the fronts of tons of US queues and are getting hand outs of cash to buy the damn things.
That is a fact, hardly racist is it.
If I rephrase that to "those bloody...." then call me racist
If you don't get it, then just shut up. Move along, nothing to see here. Just because you got yours already, or you don't care, doesn't mean you can trivialize other people's concerns.
Stop reading and wasting your time mocking people who "complain about the same issue over and over".
That's what I watched happen today. 2 or 3 ringleaders handing out cash to people who barely spoke English. If the Apple store guy wasn't so attentive at least 5 of these guys would've lined up again this morning.
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I am not saying that Asians don't own property in FL.
I am saying there is a law that exists today which can be used against any Asians from owning property.
It should be removed so that there is no ambiguity in the law.
Ah, I misunderstood. Thought that maybe there had been an internal policy change.
I see that damn bus every time I drive 91 in CT going up to NYC lol. I'm wondering if the Apple store is maybe a tourist stop now?
There are a lot of people reselling. Since Apple lets you buy two, if you're waiting in line and you only want one, there's a powerful incentive to buy a second and try to flip it for a profit.
What you're seeing in large cities is a whole different thing; you've got the same people out there every night. These people are poor, speak little English and have few opportunities. Thus, they place a low monetary value on their time. The opportunity to make a quick $300 is incentive enough to get them out there every night. These people have probably bought ten or twelve ipads each from the apple stores, and when the daily shipment is small, they get 100% of it, because most real consumers just aren't willing or able to start lining up at midnight.
The guys flipping their extra iPad on Craigslist are not the problem, although they present a strong argument against allowing customers to buy two units at launch. The people who round up dozens of poor immigrants and use them to buy up 100% of the stock, day after day are the problem.
Of course, there are a lot of Asians in NYC and elsewhere who are legitimate consumers of these products. But if you go out in the morning and see the line, the first 100 people or so will look conspicuously unlike Apple consumers, and if you watch them long enough, you'll see them all come out of the store and hand off their purchases to someone in a car.
This is not scapegoating; it's a real phenomenon. That said, Apple's really getting these into stores every day, if you made it before 8 to the NYC 5th Ave store today, you probably got one. Or, more likely, two.