$50 iBook Mayhem!

[AmericanScience]

This is fantastic.

I would have panicked - always do that first.

Panic ensues in rush for cheap laptops
Police try to control the crowd rushing to get cheap iBooks.

RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) -- A rush to purchase $50 used laptops turned into a violent stampede Tuesday, with people getting thrown to the pavement, beaten with a folding chair and nearly driven over. One woman went so far to wet herself rather than surrender her place in line.

"This is total, total chaos," said Latoya Jones, 19, who lost one of her flip-flops in the ordeal and later limped around on the sizzling blacktop with one foot bare.

More than 1,000 people turned out at the Richmond International Raceway in hopes of getting their hands on one of the 4-year-old Apple iBooks, which retail for between $999 and $1,299. The Henrico County school system was selling 1,000 of the computers to county residents.

Officials opened the gates at 7 a.m., but some already had been waiting for hours in line. When the gates opened, it became a terrifying mob scene.

People threw themselves forward, screaming and pushing each other. A little girl's stroller was crushed in the stampede. Witnesses said an elderly man was thrown to the pavement, and someone in a car tried to drive his way through the crowd.

Police would not immediately comment on the number of or extent of injuries, though witnesses said they mostly had scrapes and bruises.

"It's rather strange that we would have such a tremendous response for the purchase of a laptop computer -- and laptop computers that probably have less-than- desirable attributes," said Paul Proto, director of general services for Henrico County. "But I think that people tend to get caught up in the excitement of the event -- it almost has an entertainment value."

Blandine Alexander, 33, said one woman standing in front of her was so desperate to retain her place in line that she urinated on herself.

"I've never been in something like that before, and I never again will," said Alexander, who brought her 14-year-old twin boys to the complex at 4:30 a.m. to wait in line. "No matter what the kids want, I already told them I'm not doing that again."

Jesse Sandler said he was one of the people pushing forward, using a folding chair he had brought with him to beat back people who tried to cut in front of him.

"I took my chair here and I threw it over my shoulder and I went, 'Bam,"' the 20-year-old said nonchalantly, his eyes glued to the screen of his new iBook, as he tapped away on the keyboard at a testing station.

"They were getting in front of me and I was there a lot earlier than them, so I thought that it was just," he said.

[teribl sob stry]

http://www.woxy.com/boards/showthread.php?t=30015

[SallyCinnamon]

Blandine Alexander, 33, said one woman standing in front of her was so desperate to retain her place in line that she urinated on herself.
Is something REALLY that great that you have to piss on yourself to keep your place in line? Sheesh. I hope she had to sit in her car afterward and now her car smells like her wet, soggy, peed-in pants.

[Shlep]

Good God...bunch of dumbasses discarding all dignity and civility to grab a cheap computer which, I'll wager, most of those morons won't even be able to run because they're Apple iBooks and not Windows PCs; I take some comfort from knowing 90% of those imbeciles will get home, fire it up, and say "What the...awww, shit! I can't run this! I know, I'll just install Windows over it!" Hope they realize they momentarily traded their humanity for something they can't use.

You know, it's stuff like this, and Cabbage Patch dolls, Beanie Babies, and the Christmas shopping season that remind me that we've not come as far as we'd like to think. Every year people get trampled by dickheads trying to get a coveted, rare toy for their stupid spoiled whelp or 1/2 off some electronic gizmo. I remember last year looking at footage of people queuing up outside the local Target so they sould start shopping at 4:30AM, which if that isn't pathetic enough, when the hapless employees opened the doors, it resembled what we'd see if Pamplona hosted The Running of the Mental Defectives every year instead of using bulls.

[markalot]

Typical Apple users.


Freaks. :p

[SallyCinnamon]

Not all of us are freaks. :p

[AmericanScience]

Or, 900 people with chair wounds and urine-soaked drawers will fire it up and say - "WOW! This is amazing!! It all just WORKS!"

hehe.

I stole this from my buddy:


It's like that MasterCard ad. But backwards.

Beating down losers with a folding chair: Priceless.
Urinating on yourself: Priceless.
Driving a car though a mob: Priceless
Losing your shoe in the sweltering heat: Priceless.
iBook: $50



From: pschiller@apple.com
To:sjobs@apple.com

Steve,
I think we've found the perfect price point to really boost Mac sales. I'll have marketing look into it, but as best I can figure, we'll lose money on every sale, but we'll make it up in volume.
See you in Paris next month,

Phil

[REMgirl]

I think it was a shame that the people were lined up like cattle instead of issuing tickets. It is irrelevant that they were Apple computers. What mattered was that they were $50.

We all seem to be online without too much sweat. These looked to be a lot of poor people who were just excited to have a shot at a computer of any type, used or not.

[the happy prole]

You kinda have to live here to understand the Henrico culture, REMGirl.

It's one of the most conservative counties in the US and a suburb of Richmond, essentially a white flight landing strip. I'm not saying they're rich by any means but they certainly aren't poor-- otherwise they wouldn't have been able to spend 25 million on iBooks in the first place.

A few years ago, they shut down two DMV's in Henrico and there were near-riots everyday and the residents complained so loudly that after two weeks until the Governor stepped in and reopened them. They're just kind of lousy people.

[sparkie]

From: pschiller@apple.com
To:sjobs@apple.com

Steve,
I think we've found the perfect price point to really boost Mac sales. I'll have marketing look into it, but as best I can figure, we'll lose money on every sale, but we'll make it up in volume.
See you in Paris next month,

Phil
haha, thats great make up the loss on volume...classic economics. seriously im a windows user but if a mac was 50 bucks i would consider switching in a heartbeat, and i have a hard time seeing who would resist that. its not like people walk around with dire loyalties to windows like they do with mac.

[tobedawg]

I think it was a shame that the people were lined up like cattle instead of issuing tickets. It is irrelevant that they were Apple computers. What mattered was that they were $50.

Well these "People" evidently didn't hesitate to stampede each other like a bunch of "cattle" when they walked through the doors..

We all seem to be online without too much sweat. These looked to be a lot of poor people who were just excited to have a shot at a computer of any type, used or not.

And this raises a serious question, Is a computer really a necessity? They weren't lining up for the last piece of Bread or glass of water in the entire city, they were lining up to get a bargain on laptop computers...

[Homsar]

Further, superfluous evidence of the inverse correlation between the number of humans in a group and the overall level of intelligence.

[DaHood]

greedy people are dumb.


May I? I love that for a signature.


BTW, these people are just fucking ignorant.

[sparkie]

alright i just saw the night news and some lady was gripping about how her baby carriage got smashed and she got knocked over, thank god the kid got out alive. she then without batting an eye states that she didnt even get a computer. my question, who the fuck brings a baby to this? seriously wtf was she thinking? oh and those cops were a bunch of barneys.

[Homsar]

Heehee.
:)

[AleMan]

alright i just saw the night news and some lady was gripping about how her baby carriage got smashed and she got knocked over, thank god the kid got out alive. she then without batting an eye states that she didnt even get a computer. my question, who the fuck brings a baby to this? seriously wtf was she thinking? oh and those cops were a bunch of barneys.
Well gosh. She should have known there would have been thousands of people there and violence would have broken out. Hasn't she ever bought a computer before?

[Lucy VanPelt]

what is a barney?

[the happy prole]

Well gosh. She should have known there would have been thousands of people there and violence would have broken out. Hasn't she ever bought a computer before?

I dunno about this particular person, but it was well-publicized that only 1,000 would be given away. There were over 10,000 people in line.

I don't expect people to estimate crowd sizes perfectly, but I think it's fair to say there were at least 8,000 people who *knew* they did not get there in time for a computer and decided to wait anyway-- many of whom apparently decided it was perfectly okay to just push past the people who'd waited HOURS longer than them.

btw, there was an initial plan to sell those computers to school kids from the district. But there was so much infighting, complaining, and moaning from jackass parents that the school district (mistakenly) figured it'd just be easier to do first come-first served and get rid of them all at once.

[spinx]

Good God...bunch of dumbasses discarding all dignity and civility to grab a cheap computer which, I'll wager, most of those morons won't even be able to run because they're Apple iBooks and not Windows PCs; I take some comfort from knowing 90% of those imbeciles will get home, fire it up, and say "What the...awww, shit! I can't run this! I know, I'll just install Windows over it!" Hope they realize they momentarily traded their humanity for something they can't use.

You know, it's stuff like this, and Cabbage Patch dolls, Beanie Babies, and the Christmas shopping season that remind me that we've not come as far as we'd like to think. Every year people get trampled by dickheads trying to get a coveted, rare toy for their stupid spoiled whelp or 1/2 off some electronic gizmo. I remember last year looking at footage of people queuing up outside the local Target so they sould start shopping at 4:30AM, which if that isn't pathetic enough, when the hapless employees opened the doors, it resembled what we'd see if Pamplona hosted The Running of the Mental Defectives every year instead of using bulls.

well said... ;)