Leopard Launch at Apple Store SoHo
Tonight, my wife and I went over the Apple Store in SoHo to pick up Leopard. It was a dark and rainy night, but the line still extended around the block. The store had crowd control (they looked like bouncers to me) so everyone would line up orderly and around the block. You could only get in one way through the store’s double doors.
Someone asked me, “Who is in there?” I explained to him that no one was in there and that these people were standing in the rain for an operating system. He scoffed and went on his way. As my wife and I were standing in line, a car pulled up and a woman yelled, “What’s the line for?” Someone from the line politely explained the line is for the Apple Store and we were waiting for the operating system. The woman in car seemed shocked and moved along. Several others asked the same questions, but responded with an knowing “Oh, yeah!” There was a rather communal feel on the line as someone suggested we just tell everyone that John Mayer is in there. It was a very friendly bunch. Additionally, some people from Parallels were handing out mints (or it could have been some nut handing out who-knows-what — this is New York, after all).
We stood in the rain for a couple of minutes and eventually were let in by security. Several Apple Store employees were lined up handing out Leopard t-shirts. We were then sent upstairs to pick up Leopard. I also wanted a copy of iWork and an Apple Store employee told us to wait in line while he fetched it. The line moved so quickly, that we were next in line before the employee got back with our copy of iWork. We went over the Genius Bar which was a makeshift cashier counter where Apple Geniuses were acting as cashiers. There was a slight hitch in getting my education discount, but everything worked out. Plus, any time out of the rain was rather nice. It took us about 40 minutes to get through the whole excursion; now, I’ll be installing Leopard on my machines at home.
#1 Anona says:cool
#2 David says:Did you get the family license?
#3 Iyaz Akhtar says:Yes, I bought the family pack of both Leopard and iWork.
#4 Galley says:No Apple Store (yet) here in Greenville, SC so we had a launch party at CompUSA. About 70 people were there at 6:00. I didn’t get one of the 20 free T-shirts.
It was our MUG president’s birthday, so we all chipped in and got him the Family Pack.
#5 Kevin L says:Does anyone else worry that Apple is losing its down to earth connection with its clients? Maybe it is the growing popularity with the brand, but it seems like with the constant new software without the option of upgrade pricing and the feel of the stores now that I have lost a bit of my first love. I know it isn’t fair to make this observation after a big launch, but it has been in the back of my mind for a while now.
#6 Paulo says:I was at the launch in London’s Regent Street store! Been in line for 2h, i was like the 50th guy in, got the t-shirt, and the next day i heard from the net that there were 600 people on that cue! Many people stopped and asked what were we waiting for, and after many replies a lady asked again the same thing and when we told her what we were waiting she just called us fools, so there goes a old guy that was being me and tells her, “We are just waiting to get a free tshirt”!Lol, then she really went nuts….
#7 Jim T says:No upgrade pricing is a myth. Everyone who has a mac already has mac os right?? So what would be the purpose of a “full version” and an “upgrade version”. Same with iWork and iLife. And compare those prices with the upgrade prices of windows or office or (microsofts version of iLife???? nevermind…) and you’ll see that you are getting quite a good deal