Unless I get to be first. (Or close to it.)
It’s not so much the waiting I hate, it’s the line. If I can be first, or very near the front of the line, it’s not such a big deal. From that point, the line in front of me is short, so who cares how long it is behind me? It was with this philosophy that I headed down to Ginza this morning to await the release of Apple’s OS X 10.4 – Tiger.It wasn’t so much the OS I was after, but rather the 10% discount on all systems bought during the launch event. 10% may not seem like a lot, but when a laptop runs ¥230,000, 10% is worth getting in line early for. How early? Well, in the same manner as my PSP campout report, I present to you –
The Tiger Timeline!
0900 – Get on the bus in my neighborhood to go to Akabane, where I’ll catch a train to Tokyo station.1000 – Exit Tokyo station.1010 – Make a detour to Pokémon Center. (More on this in another entry.)1025 – I arrive at the Apple store to see only three people are lined up. Well, not even three people – it’s two and a folding camp chair (similar to, but nicer than, the one I brought). No need to hop in line yet, so I go shopping elsewhere for a bit.
Ooooooooh!
1150 – I return to the Apple store to find there are now five people in line. (Okay, three and a chair.)
1200 – Ginza Dori (street) is closed off. I dig it when they do this. It wasn’t for Tiger or anything Apple related, they just close the street so people can shop and stroll and whatnot.
1205 – The owner of the chair (which is second in line) shows up and takes his spot.
1210 – I add my chair to the line:
I don’t join the line myself yet, as it’s in the sun and Mr. Sun and I don’t really get along that well. Instead, I hang out across the street in the shade of Matsuya Ginza and keep chatting with a friend online. Gotta love the wifi range from the Apple Store. ^.^
1225 – I lose my shade and take my place in line. Hopefully my SPF 50 will help me from getting too fried.1300 – Some security dude puts up poles and chains marking the front of the line.
1345 – Mr. Sun is thwarted! His movements have caused the line to fall into shadow.
1422 – There are now nine people in line.
1430 – Some renfair-type guy sets up on the other side of the street with a mandolin:
I think he forgot his matching shoes.1445 – Random dog people! A batch of people show up walking down the street with weird little matching dogs – many of whom are wearing weird little shirts:
1457 – Some news crew (TBS) interviews the dude in the good chair.
1500 – There are now 17 people in line. (Note to self, when 10.5 comes out, it’s okay to show up only 3 hours prior.)
1508 – Some Apple Dude hands out flyers and stuff and talks about the scratch tickets.
1511 – Dude #2 rides off on his bike. I think he’s taking his chair home.
1530 – A random Aussie guy stops to chat, asking me what the line’s all about. I explain the deal with the OS, free giveaways and 10% off. He digs it and heads on his way. He’s the first of about 5-6 people to stop and ask me what the line’s for. during my line checks, I realize I’m the only gaijin in the first block of the line. I guess that makes me the “go-to guy” for curious foreigners.
1535 – A group or snarky Americans stops their walk down the street to ponder the line. How do I know they’re snarky? Well, they saw the signs and figured out the line was for the Tiger release, then started talking smack about how they couldn’t understand why people were lining up for Tiger. Shit, I wouldn’t line up for Tiger. If all I wanted was the OS I’d roll into a Bic Camera at 6pm, snag it and be on my way. There’s more going on here than just an OS release.
1551 – There are now 57 people in line. That would be too many for me to wait behind and not get irritated, so it looks like 3 hours early is the time to show up (for me, anyways) when 10.5 comes out. ^.^
1556 – There’s been some Apple bigwig walking around all day. Why do I say he’s a bigwig? Well, he’s not wearing the Apple shirt and everybody who works at the store is treating him like he’s really important, hanging on his every word. Here he is looking important:
(Any hardcore Mac fans know who he is?)
1630 – Some random European guy stops to ask me what the deal with the line is. Only he doesn’t say line at first, he says “queue.” No biggie, I understand several flavors of English. But he has to go and assume I don’t know what “queue” means, and repeats his question using “line.” Yeah, like because I’ve got an American accent I don’t know what a fucking queue is. So far the Aussies win the day on congeniality points alone.
1658 – The store lights dim as they try to get all the customers out. (They’re closing the store at 5 and reopening at 6.)
1705 – The last customer leaves.
1715 – I do my final line check. It’s now 1.5 blocks long and has about 300 people in it.
1725 – The sidewalk is thick with gawkers, trying to find out what’s going on. In order to keep anybody from trying to jump in line, there are security people around to make sure all goes well. And to avoid any confusion about where the front of the line may be, there’s this guy:
1735 – Many, many boxes of Tiger are waiting, just out of reach:
Yeah, I know the pic’s blurry, but it was damned hard to get a clear shot with as crowded as the sidewalk was getting.
1745 – The press people are allowed in.
The press staging area. (This is the 2,000th photo taken with my camera. Not bad considering I bought it about 13 months ago.)
1750 – Techno music blares out the front of the store, courtesy of DJ EZ. (I don’t know who he is either, but he was listed on the Apple Ginza store page as tonight’s music guy.) Even though I’d read that on the page, I’d have sworn the first bit of techno was somebody’s GarageBand creation.
1800 – Let’s go! One of the Apple guys (not Mr. Important Blue Shirt) does a 10-second countdown then we’re allowed in.
The music is insanely loud as I go into the store. All the employees are clapping in sync with DJ EZ’s spinning and the press photographers are snapping like crazy. How weird and wonderful for a company to give their customers a little bit of a “rock star” moment just for coming in to buy stuff.Now, before I go any further, let me state that I get that this is all marketing.
But that doesn’t make it any less cool.
They could’ve just said, “here’s your stuff, take it to the register, buh-bye.” But they didn’t. Anybody who says Apple selling “the Apple Experience” is stupid has never seen something like this. They don’t have to do stuff like this – but they do.
And that’s what makes Mac fans so fanatically loyal.
Now, let’s continue. I get misdirected up to the second floor, where they’re using the Genius Bar to ring up sales for those just buying a copy of Tiger. An Apple dude asks where my copy is, and I say I’m here for a PowerBook. He apologizes for my being sent to the wrong floor, and says to go back downstairs. I do, fighting my way past the people coming up the stair to pay for their copy of Tiger.
I find a salesperson and explain that I want a PowerBook. The girl I’m talking to gets a guy to help me. Coincidentally, it’s the same guy who I dealt with when I got my iBook G4 last year. I tell him which one I want and that I want an English keyboard on it. There are no signs anywhere indicating the 10% off launch party discount, so I ask about that. He tries to lower his voice (is the discount a secret?), which is impossible with the music so loud, and says, yes, they can give me 10% off.
(I didn’t see any signs or anything about the 10% discount, so I’m wondering if maybe the only put those up after the initial rush of Tiger buyers get their stuff and head out. I guess it makes sense, since most people were there just for Tiger, and it’s not like Macs are impulse buy items. Would they really want people lingering while deciding whether or not they should splurge when they’ve got a line several blocks long of people waiting to get into the store?)He then goes to check with the service department to see how long it’ll take them to get the keyboard put in. Two days.
FUCK!!!
Well, it’s not like my iBook is going kill itself in a fit of jealousy just because I got the PowerBook, so I can wait. I also pick up an Airport Express since I can get it for 10% as well. It’s the only thing I can take home tonight, but no biggie. I can tinker with it and get it all set up so I can start streaming my tunes.
As I’m finishing things up and paying for my stuff, one of the managers comes over and thanks me, saying I’m the first person to buy a system during the launch event. Did he have to do that? Again, no, but that’s just more of that Apple coolness that keeps the fans loyal.
1820 – My business complete, I leave the store and head back to Tokyo station. I walk the length of the line on my way there, and it’s still 2.5 blocks long. I make no attempt to count how many people there are.
1843 – I get on my train and head home.
1945 – I arrive home, tired and happy.Thus ends the Tiger Timeline. Well, almost. I guess it won’t officially end until I pick up my PowerBook on Sunday.
At least I won’t have to wait in line for that. ^.^