I participated in my first Apple product launch on March 11th, 2011. The day began with me at work as normal, but I left at noon and headed down to the Boise Town Square Mall (BTSM) Apple Store iPad 2 launch. A family member had been waiting in line since about 9:30AM. She was 7th in line and I was in 8th in line. I later found out that the BTSM opened at 5:30AM for mall walkers. Two gentleman arrived within minutes around 6:30.
The line started to grow as the day progressed. At around 2:00PM the line had grown from 18 to 40 people. I walked around the way to notice that people had moved mall furniture up against the wall for a comfy spot to wait. I started to poll people on which capacity and color they were looking to pick up. Many said black, but I was surprised at the number of those that were looking to pick the new white model.
The day progressed and I carried on many conversations with those standing in line with me. As the time drew closer to launch we began to yell out how many hours were left until launch. At 2:00PM mall security informed us that if it happened again we would be escorted out of the mall. We informed the manager of the store what had been told to us and he was visibly upset and began to have a lengthy “discussion” with the security team assigned to the event. We were later informed that we could yell and get as excited as we pleased as Apple was in charge of the event and was allowed to have said events.
Right about 3:00PM the Apple Store began to close in preparation for the event. Many people continued to walk by asking what was going on and why was the store closing. One individual had traveled a great distance and was visibly upset the store was closed and proceeded to argue with the Apple Employee chosen to handle questions. The individual stated that the store was being unreasonable in not allowing her to purchase the device considering the great distance driven to purchase. For the record it was an iPod Nano, available most anywhere, which was the advice given to by the Apple Employee.
As 5:00PM approached the store employees began to ask us which model we were looking to purchase and how many. They went through the line and comments I overheard were that the white model is in limited supply and there were no guaranties. We received a ticket after giving out our choice and that choice was entered in to what could be described as an inventory application on an iPod Touch.
The anticipation began to build. We were asked to remove our chairs and other items as the area that was being referred to as the “staging area” for each waive of customers. The manager once again graced us with his presence carrying on conversation with us first 18 in line. The big moment finally arrived and the some 300 people in line began to crank up the volume.
After 4 and half hours I was welcomed into the store to purchase my 32GB and 64GB White iPad 2 WiFi models. I had the Apple employee setup my iPad 2, as I wanted to ensure that it indeed was in working order before I had left. After all I didn’t want to get home after standing in line and not have the thing power up.
My observation from the launch was that Apple went out of its way to create buzz for a product that didn’t need much hype. Apple went out of its way to make those of us in line comfortable by offering coffee, tea, and water, while also receiving a black blanket for our troubles. The other mall stores were offering us in line many different discounts on iPad related items. In the end I walked out of the store with what I came for and had a great time doing so and yes it was worth the wait.
