Japanese Man Already Lined Up To Buy iPhone 6 114
zacharye writes "Last year ahead of Apple's iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c launch, lines began forming outside Apple stores weeks in advance. At the time, we thought it was pretty crazy that anyone would line up that far in advance to buy a cell phone — but now we know what crazy really looks like. A Japanese man named 'Yoppy' says he has already lined up to buy Apple's unannounced iPhone 6, which isn't expected to launch for another seven months."
Wow (Score:5, Funny)
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Yea I still have an iPhone 4 and don't see any real reason to upgrade, the only new feature I like is the fingerprint reader to login, my work has me with max security settings meaning I need to use a full password to get into my phone.
Re:An obvious hired shill (Score:5, Funny)
It is going to be a long line for him. We don't even know if there will be an iPhone 6. I have on good record that doomsday is 14/14/14.
Re: An obvious hired shill (Score:1)
14 months in a year?
Re: An obvious hired shill (Score:2)
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Doomsday will be on 02/14/2014 , i.e. today
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Only if you forgot Valentines Day . . .
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Only if you have a significant other*...
(*who knows you exist and also considers you to be their significant other)
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Chill out (Score:2)
Tim Cooke is not as slick as Jobs was but his shill marketing is just as effective.
You really need to cool that "it's a shill" reflex down a bit. This is Japan. Nobody does crazy obsessive (both good and bad) better than Japan. Apple would have nothing to accomplish by hiring this idiot. They've already got people who are silly enough to line up and camp out for their products.
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Or he's just someone who thought "hey, if I do something crazy I'll make the news. Hmm... shoot someone or act as if I line up already for an Apple product that hasn't even been announced yet... chances for headlines are about the same..."
Or he simply lost a bet and now has to sit there for a day and make a fool out of himself.
I could think of a few reasons why someone would queue up for some Apple product vaporware and none of them has anything to do with the Apple product per se but rather with its reputa
Can't you pre-order online? (Score:3)
I've never bought an Apple product (and never will), but for pretty much anything else I might want that has a future release date I can pre-order it and get it on day of release. Do Apple not do this?
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I've never bought an Apple product (and never will), but for pretty much anything else I might want that has a future release date I can pre-order it and get it on day of release. Do Apple not do this?
Reading your comment you must have been first in line for your portion of seriousness. This is Slashdot, don't mess with this man's believe in God's creatures. If you want your share, get a life or get in line!
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If you get an answer, can you ask the same people why you'd WANT a 0-day product with complete lack of public testing? That makes me more curious than anything else.
Hey, I have this great new game/car/house for you. Give me the full cost price of it and you can have it on the first day. Testing? Oh, no, sorry, not until you've paid for it. Other reviews? No, we bought them all and/or embargoed them to prevent the wrong kind of review getting out. Other users? There are none, you'll be our guinea pig
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Houses:
Two visits, both 30+ minutes each.
Multiple hours perusing pictures, measurements taken, etc.
One full house survey by a professional paid to represent my interests.
One full house survey by a professional paid to represent my mortgage companies interests.
Numerous agents to find a house that met the criteria in the first place.
Several lawyers representing my interests at all points (including legally sound paperwork and things like the double-glazing not having been fitted by a FENSA-registered fitter,
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I've never bought an Apple product (and never will), but for pretty much anything else I might want that has a future release date I can pre-order it and get it on day of release. Do Apple not do this?
They do, but pre-ordering doesn't get you an article on Slashdot or make you a hero amongst your friends.
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They do, but pre-ordering doesn't get you an article on Slashdot
Give it a month or two.
or make you a hero amongst your friends.
Camping out in line months in advance does?
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Camping out in line months in advance does?
In certain circles, probably.
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In his circle, yes, since he's a performance artist and this whole escapade has been an act.
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Yes, of course you can - and that's how most people order their iPhones, which are then shipped to them to arrive on release day. Quick and easy and takes about 5 minutes.
Of course, if you are doing a piece of performance art (which this guy is), by dressing up as an iPhone 6 and lining up to buy one, then going the normal pre-order route is less effective for your ultimate goal, which is to generate exposure - and success! He made it to the pages of several blogs and slashdot.
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won't he be embarrassed when they release it and it looks nothing like his costume!
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I've never bought an Apple product (and never will)
Never say never ...
pretty much anything else (...) I can pre-order it and get it on day of release
When the product is as popular as an iphone - would you like it or no - many people want it the first day and, unless queuing early, you'll have to wait.
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I've never bought an Apple product (and never will), but for pretty much anything else I might want that has a future release date I can pre-order it and get it on day of release. Do Apple not do this?
No, and that's why Apple gets a shitload of press when people line up for their products and while every other company hardly gets a mention when their new flagship product becomes available for pre-order on Amazon along with (***yawn***) a dozen others. Even if one passionately dislikes Apple, one must also grudgingly admit that it's a pretty clever marketing strategy that has worked wonders for Apple.
For those who don't know; lines work differently i (Score:5, Informative)
He isn't physically waiting in line. Japan ques up by using a place holder mat with a persons name on it. When the day comes they just go to the mat and take tier spot. You can Google this to verify
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Re:For those who don't know; lines work differentl (Score:5, Funny)
I think he's just homeless and faking it.
{in perfect Japanese, of course} "Move along."..
"Hey, I'm just... waiting... yeah, for the next IPhone, that's it!"
"Oh, Okay..."
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Yes, he is. He's a "performance artist."
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The article shows him physically waiting in line. While dressed up as an iPhone...
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You mean like those who would post that view as an anonymous coward?
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You know, it's actually OK to be gay. All this self hate projected onto other people.. you must be working on a gigantic ulcer.
Just some performance art (Score:5, Informative)
At the time, we thought it was pretty crazy that anyone would line up that far in advance to buy a cell phone — but now we know what crazy really looks like.
He's not crazy. It's just some cracked performance art. His Twitter account features pictures of him, amongst other things, tied up in rope bondage aboard a train, wearing an alarmingly tight superhero costume, running in underwear on snowy streets, and a penis crafted of chocolate. He's clearly a prankster and humorist.
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He's not crazy. It's just some cracked performance art. His Twitter account features pictures of him, amongst other things, tied up in rope bondage aboard a train, wearing an alarmingly tight superhero costume, running in underwear on snowy streets, and a penis crafted of chocolate. He's clearly a prankster and humorist.
Not an iDiot, then?
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Politics and religion werent mentioned, prerequisite to idiocy.
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Depends on whether you're "in the biz" or just someone who believes in them.
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I stand by my lack of distinction.
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I not anti-religion. Im anti-idiot. But one doesnt go to the grocery store to buy tractor tires.
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His Twitter account features pictures of him, amongst other things, tied up in rope bondage aboard a train, wearing an alarmingly tight superhero costume, running in underwear on snowy streets, and a penis crafted of chocolate. He's clearly a prankster and humorist.
Nah. Those are all perfectly normal behaviors in Japan.
What page just loaded? (Score:2)
When I logged into /. just now, this story was at the top of the page.
I had to look twice at the masthead to make sure I wasn't on the Onion page.
Good work, usually humorless /.ers!
Wonder if he's out in the snow? (Score:2)
It's snowing in Tokyo right now so I'm curious if he's camped out. I'd like a picture of "sad iPhone in snow"
Publicity Stunt is Publicity Stunt (Score:4, Insightful)
A minor level performer is attempting to get his name out there with the lamest publicity stunt ever.
So Slashdot posted it to the front page.
Yay Slashdot...
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My daughter has been using iPhones for years, she's 27. I see people of all ages with the silly things. I say silly, because it's stupid to carry around a six or seven hundred dollar fragile object everywhere you go when one for a hundred will do all the same things.
I call Apple's phone the iBling. It's a status symbol, and I detest status symbols. Kids...
newsflash. (Score:2)
A mentally disturbed person does something stupid and it matters?
(no I dont mean it as a comment on Apple users, but judging from the link, it seems he's not all there).
How to be an attention whore (Score:4, Funny)
Step 3 (Score:2)
Rake in the advertising cash as losers with no lives comment on said story.
Sad... very sad.
*cries*
So now articles about the mentally ill (Score:2)
are fare for slashdot?
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Always has been. Every year they announce the Darwin Awards, for example. And look at how much attention Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison have gotten over the years. Then more recently there's the McAffee foolishness.
Does anyone still care? (Score:2, Flamebait)
Iphone is no longer being introduced and announced by the famous spokesman. The changes in the device are minor, incremental and predictable. People are still using their iPhone 4 and some even earlier -- they are just about done with the hype and hysteria.
Does iPhone even matter any longer?
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Given that it's still the top selling handset by a country mile, and that each successive iPhone sells more than the previous one, I'd have to say "yes".
The two major players in the smartphone market right now are Apple and Samsung. Whatever the two of them do right now "matters". The Galaxy line and the iPhone line make up the vast majority of smartphones in current use and currently being sold.
Sorry, but your hate for Apple doesn't change reality.
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Note that I said "Samsung Galaxy" and "Apple iPhone", and you've made the classic mistake of lumping all of the Android handsets from every manufacturer together to make one monolithic "Android" graph line.
When you look at units sold of each handset (smartphone only) alone, the Samsung Galaxy and and Apple iPhone line make up the major bulk.
When you tally it this way, Android's graph there is 30% Samsung, with every other manufacturer totalling 70%, but without any single one of them getting close to Samsun
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...you mean the same way people classically lump "PC" vs. Mac instead of "Dell vs. Apple"? The software platform of Apple and that of Android is a fair comparison.
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Ah, so in that case I assume it's fair to add on all the figures from the iPad to the iOS numbers, then?
I mean, the software platforms are the same.
Huh (Score:2)
When I first saw this headline in my Facebook feed, I assumed the source was The Onion. Wow.
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When I first saw this headline in my Facebook feed, I assumed the source was The Onion. Wow.
The Register has become the next best thing.
Life imitates art (Score:2)
Some time ago, there was a satirical story about a homeless guy* falling asleep in the Apple store entry and a line forming behind him to buy whatever it was that he was waiting for. Now there are stories about homeless people actually waiting in Apple store lines.
*Indistinguishable from hipsters.
Oblig. image [imgur.com].
Good For Him (Score:2)
Everybody needs a hobby.
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Incorrect (Score:2)
Hmmm ... (Score:2)
Does one person a line make? I think not.
This is lame (Score:1)
Why Not? (Score:1)
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One more reason to develop for iOS and not for Android.
Google should hire people to do the same for Android.
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well doh since the release days are well known in advance and if you want to do a publicity stunt you do it for iphone queue'ing.
nothing to do with the fucking phone even, just the fact that reporters love to report on things they already reported. its shit easy. nobody cares though.