Woz Is First In Line For iPhone 4S 287
An anonymous reader writes "Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is already camped out in front of an Apple store for the new iPhone 4S. From the article: 'Woz and his trusty Segway showed up at his local Apple store in Los Gatos Thursday and said he will stay there overnight. He added he already has two phones coming to his house, but doesn't mind hanging out for one more for his wife.'"
That son of a bitch (Score:5, Funny)
No wonder those phones are sold out.
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phone scalping? interesting concept.
Re:That son of a bitch (Score:4, Insightful)
What he's doing is being a publicity hound. He could walk into Apple, talk to Tim Cook, and have a box of them placed in his lap. I find these antics humorous and highly manipulative. He's a billionaire. He can fly in private jets anywhere in the world on a moments notice. He can buy some whole towns. Why would a billionaire stand in line all night long to get a cellphone that his company sells?
One final note. Be wary of the practical joker. Those around him should probably get ready to have him buy theirs as well, as a good gesture.
Yes, Woz, we'll miss you too.
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I doubt Woz is a billionaire. I think he's donated a lot of his money to charity.
Re:That son of a bitch (Score:5, Interesting)
Woz's Tick. (Score:5, Informative)
Stuff like this is what makes Woz tick. He's a bit of an extroverted geek that loves to play. Read up on some of the stories on the original Apple and Apple II. The stuff the man did with chips and coding was nothing short of genius.
He went out into the iPad lines and did magic tricks [gizmodo.com]. Why? Because he could.
Steve Jobs was driven by perfection of design. Features would not be implemented 95%, it had to be perfect. Woz is driven by fun. He loves practical jokes, he loves being creative. I can't describe him other than he is just Woz.
What he does with his life is my envy and should probably be the envy of almost every slashdotter out there. Imagine if you had enough money to just camp out before Debian/Ubuntu/Fedora/Apache/[Random FOSS Project]/Microsoft/Apple made a new release. Or could just.... do what ever the hell you wanted. He could sit at home, in his mansion and own everything Apple ever released but he doesn't.
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Yep. He came to Campus Party here in Spain last year and had plenty of time for everybody. He's a totally cool guy.
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Classic head and shoulders pattern. It must be about to tank. Sell! Sell!
Damn, wrong window....
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I think he honestly just enjoys the technology and enjoys talking to other people who enjoy technology. He doesn't need the attention and neither does the iPhone, it'll sell just great whether he's there or not. But he's going to have fun and what's wrong with that?
Re:That son of a bitch (Score:5, Insightful)
Can a guy have fun?
Quit being a buzz kill
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Exactly. Woz is doing it for the social event. I'm sure he's had at least one real iPhone 4S for at least a couple of weeks now.
He'll bask in the crowd's adoration a bit, and joke about next year's elite iPhone 5we ("we" = "Woz Edition", sold pre-jailbroken, running OpenIOS, and equipped with a real, honest-to-god camera button).
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I get prejailbroken, open version of iOS, but... Why the camera button? Mind you, I still dislike the idea of using volume up as a shutter button, even more so after finding out going into the Camera app pauses my audio playback >:(
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I2C, SPI, and Dallas 1-wire as secondary functions on the expansion cable are just taken for granted. You'll have to wait for the iPhone 6we to get Zigbee ;-)
As for the camera button... why NOT? Even if you don't care about picture taking, I'm sure just about everyone here can think of something useful to do with another easy to press hardkey, if only to use it like a ctrl key when running a ssh client (light press) or alt key (hard press).
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Like the SSH clients on android do (hard keys for alt+ and ctrl+ plus others). Makes it much nicer than just touch screen controls
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You didn't see the episode of "My life on the D-List" (when he was dating Kathy Giffords for a couple of weeks)? The first thing he did on their date was jailbreak her iPhone in the limo on the way to the restaurant. Mad props, total respect :-D
He probably HAS direct, personal access to the iPhone's source repo, because it was the only way Apple could keep him entertained enough to avoid the scandal of having their founder become the favorite playmate of a big lime green robot from across town ;-)
Good god,
Re:That son of a bitch (Score:5, Insightful)
You lost all respect for someone you've never met, based on what you imagine his intentions to be, surrounding actions taken during events at which you were not present.
No offense, but I get the impression that your respect isn't really worth a whole lot in the first place, if you treat it so arbitrarily.
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Re:That son of a bitch (Score:5, Informative)
Why would a billionaire stand in line all night long to get a cellphone that his company sells?
I know this will sound crazy, but "he enjoys other human beings?" I know, the only reasonable thing for a wealthy man to do is sit home and count his money, but for some reason Woz goes out and interacts with other Apple aficionados.
The last time this story ran, he was helping a woman figure out what was wrong with her Macbook. Afterwards people said to her, "do you know who that was?" Any reasonable rich guy would have told her to pound sand or at least talk to the Genius Bar (despite both of those words being misleading).
Woz - man of mystery.
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Woz is rich, no question, but you are highly overestimating his net worth, which apparently is closer to $100M. He's nowhere near a "billionaire". Steve Jobs would never have let that happen... (too soon? :)
No question they'd give him as many phones as he wanted, though. I think it's both a matter of promoting the product (why wouldn't an Apple shareholder want to do that?) and a sense of wanting to be in the trenches like everyone else (as he always wanted to be when working at Apple).
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Why would a billionaire stand in line all night long to get a cellphone that his company sells?
Why would anyone do this at all, for that matter? I really don't understand the mindset of people that can't wait a few days or even weeks for this. I presume they have nothing better to do with their time (hey, I have nothing better to do with my time than post to Slashdot at the moment, and even I wouldn't queue up outside overnight for anything)
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I don't think he's even being a publicity hound. I think he's just having fun with the opportunity and planning to hang with the Apple fanboys who join the line-up for shits and giggles.
He even said he's already got a couple being shipped to his house. It could just as easily have been a case, and he wouldn't have had to leave home at all.
Besides, what would he need the publicity for? I could see Apple wanting the publicity, but I can't imagine Apple coming up with any incentives that would lure him
Re:That son of a bitch (Score:5, Insightful)
Why would a billionaire stand in line all night long to get a cellphone that his company sells?
As you said, for the publicity. Cults being what they are, I'm sure it all helps to perform minor miracles to keep the sheep spending until the day they can revive Zombie Jesus.. i mean Jobs.
Or you know, it could just be that Woz is a pretty fun cool guy and likes to hang out with people in lines and makes new friends. Believe it or not, Woz doesn't need the money and the iPhone doesn't need the publicity to sell out in less than an hour. Frankly Woz is more the engineer, nerd and geek than any of us will likely ever be if the guy wants to stand in a line overnight for shits and giggles, more power to him. But no, it's cool, you twist that into some strange reason to insult a dead man. I'm just surprised you didn't mention Apple users being shee... OH wait, you did. I guess you bought an Android phone, installed someone else's ROM that they made nice and simple for you to understand and told yourself you're a "hacker" and more of a nerd than an Apple user.
Re:That son of a bitch (Score:4, Insightful)
How do you park a Segway? (Score:2)
I wonder if he just stops there and lets it keep itself balanced all night.
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Yeah, because bicycle owners have never figured this out either... ;)
True geek (Score:4, Funny)
It's great to see as time marches on, that Woz remains so true to his roots & initial interests.
As a side note, I removed 2 cycles from his SWEET16 interpreter when I ported it to the C64, without affecting functionality. That was an amazing little moment in my life, and felt as a great accomplishment given the body of work. :-)
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I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Woz has done more circuit writing and code writing ingenuity than you will ever hope to accomplish in your life. The Apple and Apple II were more or less him, by himself. Hand drawn circuits were included in tech manuals. Some of the stuff he had to do to get his code into memory is nothing short of magic to most.
Awesome dude (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd buy a 4S but.. (Score:5, Funny)
I can't trust purchase advice from somebody who owns a segway.
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I can't trust purchase advice from somebody who owns a segway.
I understand now... the reason it's named the iPhone 4S and not the iPhone 5.
The "S" must be short for Segway.
I'll get his coffee for him (Score:4, Funny)
If he pays me in $2 bills.
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If he pays me in $2 bills.
Actually he pays in $1S bills.
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$2 bills, purchased in sheets, bound into a book and perforated so he can tear off as tips.
Camping out? (Score:2)
I can't imagine there's a single Apple "first-in-liner" that wouldn't let Woz cut to the front of the line if he showed up at the last minute.
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Just as I can't imagine Woz cutting in line. Mischief against the system, maybe, but not against fellow geeks.
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I can imagine Woz cutting in line [google.com] and yes some people have complained about it.
If it were me, I'd let him cut, but only in exchange for an autograph :)
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most people camping for an iPhone don't know who he is.
Geek? (Score:2)
Remember that nerds are people that actually know things... modern day computer geeks are generally people who try to pass themselves off as nerds... of course, many nerds prefer to pass themselves off as normal people, a feat that is generally unreachable for geeks.
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"Remember that nerds are people that actually know things... modern day computer geeks are generally people who"
I don't remember being signing a contract for a particular label.
To me a geek is someone that gets, well, geeky about something, any of a wide variety of things in fact. And a nerd is just a pasty-looking thin guy with stupid glasses, that may or may not be smart but certainly isn't a people-person.
Re:Camping out? (Score:5, Insightful)
I can't imagine there's a single Apple "first-in-liner" that wouldn't let Woz cut to the front of the line if he showed up at the last minute.
I can only imagine the kids in line saying, "Who the fuck are you?" Kids these days...
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Larry Bird approves [youtube.com]
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me
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I can't imagine there's a single Apple "first-in-liner" that wouldn't let Woz cut to the front of the line if he showed up at the last minute.
I can imagine that 95% of people in your average Apple line know who Woz is.
In Australia that number is closer to 99% as the kind of people who buy Iphones buy them as fashion accessories, not as phones.
How little respect (Score:2)
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can apple have for one of it's founders that they won't slide him a $300 gadget????
He'd probably be waiting in line even if they did. I suspect he's bored/needs to get out some and wants to do the whole wait-in-line experience for his personal amusement. :)
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Then again, he ceased to be relevant to Apple, oh, a couple decades ago. Why aren't we over this guy yet? And by "we", I don't really mean "we".
good line (Score:2)
Woz was also first in line to design an Apple computer. That's still one of the coolest things anyone has ever done. The snarky commenters here ought to contemplate this Zen riddle: "What did the bald man say about his comb?" (A: "I'll never part with it.") If Woz wants to hang out with other Apple fans and show his enthusiasm, why paint it as anything but a guy trying to have some fun? I wonder what question Woz will ask Siri on his first try.
Woz ain't stupid (Score:2)
Remember the last time Woz said something slightly skeptical in public about a modern Apple product, Steve smacked him down good and hard. Woz isn't gonna make that mistake again!
[Dead, schmead; it could be a trick!]
He's always had my respect (Score:5, Insightful)
Wow, lots of unexpected harsh comments regarding Woz here.
Woz is just a nice guy. He likes to talk to people, especially when they share similar interests (Apple products in this case). This is the same guy who was so into computers that he regularly attended the Homebrew Computer Club, and sought out people who knew things he didn't (like about the phone system). It's also the same guy who works with young people to get them interested in programming and computers. He's a people person, even if he can seemingly be a bit shy sometimes.
So why do people have to insert some kind of agenda into the guy's actions? He makes like $400 a month from Apple to not do anything, so he isn't exactly working for their marketing department. Whether his appearance makes a 30-second spot on the local evening news (which going by the media's interest in Woz compared to Jobs, maybe not), and if he's lucky sells a few more iPhones in his town to fans who were probably on the fence about buying it anyway, doesn't benefit him personally. And Woz standing in a line simply isn't going to generate any significant sales nationally either to make any noticeable impact on Apple's bottom line. Especially when you consider that the average Apple fan these days quite frankly (and sadly) may have no idea who the guy is.
Jobs wasn't a very nice person. Not only do I understand peoples' dislike of the guy, I share it. But I honestly can just never understand any strong negative feelings about Woz. I personally have no interest in Apple or their products these days, but Woz is still a role model to someone like myself who's interested in programming and electronics. And I love to hear about his pranks, since I've been known to pull one here or there as well. People can blow Steve Jobs up into a visionary or Jesus or whatever other nonsense and I'll still never respect the guy. But Woz will always have my respect.
Seriously, how many respectable role models are even left out there anymore, especially for young people?
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Jobs wasn't a very nice person. Not only do I understand peoples' dislike of the guy, I share it. But I honestly can just never understand any strong negative feelings about Woz.
Maybe they're annoyed that Woz keeps getting all the credit for being the 'nice one' when Jobs gets looked down on still for something he did 30 years ago.
A good way to judge people is see what people around the guy think of him (think Newt Gengrich.....the people who've known him the longest hate him the most). Steve seems to have a lot of people who really respect him a lot. He may have a temper, but I'd guess underneath that he has something good in him.
Also, it doesn't have to be one or the other. B
Re:He's always had my respect (Score:4, Insightful)
Maybe they're annoyed that Woz keeps getting all the credit for being the 'nice one' when Jobs gets looked down on still for something he did 30 years ago.
Dude, even "get these damn scribble pads out of my office!" *throw* isn't 30 years ago. Jobs was well-known for being an asshole, and only his bout with cancer was enough to get people to stop saying so, because they felt guilty. But he brought us a walled garden and no shortage of arrogance ("you're holding it wrong") so from where I'm sitting he was the same guy he always was right up until he died.
Speaking of holding it wrong, I note that the iPhone 4S has a redesigned antenna that makes the iPhone 4 case accessories not fit it, so you have to buy them all over again. I figure they redesigned it to solve the problem of people holding it wrong - you're supposed to shove it up your arse.
Also, it doesn't have to be one or the other. Both Woz and Jobs are guys who did amazing things. You can like them both.
Or you could think Steve Jobs was an asshole who did amazing things, and that Wozniak is a nice guy who did amazing things. That's OK too.
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Woz is just a nice guy... Jobs wasn't a very nice person. Not only do I understand peoples' dislike of the guy, I share it. But I honestly can just never understand any strong negative feelings about Woz.
Do actually know or have any personal experience of either of these guys? If not, your opinion is no more useful than the negativity that you don't understand. You might as well post to tell us which is your favourite Power Ranger...
For the record, I like Red.
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We don't know these guys; we read stuff from guys who don't these guys, that may or may not be accurate - I just think we should bear that in mind before making personal judgements.
Screw Tommy.
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Could not agree with your post more. Woz was one of the original geeks and still is.
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Oh please. Of course, I've never met Steve Jobs, but still: Sure he was a very demanding boss and unscrupulous strategist, but that would not automatically make him a bad person in all aspects of life (unless you consider moneymaking and bossing all there is to life)
So sad (Score:2, Insightful)
Regulary Guy? (Score:2)
Steve Wozniak is proving two things today. 1. He's a regular guy
Yes, nothing proves you're a regular guy more than turning up on your Segway...
Nutty as ever (Score:3)
Gotta love the Woz.
Nitpick (Score:3)
he wanted to wait in line (Score:3)
he wanted to wait in line
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Its fun if you've got the time. Talk to the other people in line, show each other great apps, etc. Of course you look like a saddo to passersby, but geeks should be used to that :-)
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The Apple retail stores themselves will likely be the only location that has any stock beyond pre-orders. And those will be gone quick.
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That doesn't change the fact that nobody has to wait in line. Will the world crumble if someone has to wait a week or two?
Re:Strange (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, if only they could do something more constructive like spending their evenings criticizing people on the internet.
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That wasn't true for the iPhone 4. For quite a while that thing had a 3 week wait. I doubt it'll be that extreme this time around, but 'the next day' is pretty unlikely.
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Probably different here in Australia. Friend of mine went to the apple store on the first day of sale for one model of iPhone. Tells the guy behind the counter what he wants. Apple guy says I'll just go and check to see if we have any in stock. Five minutes later he returns with a phone. The seems dumb. They either have big pallets stacked high with the things or none at all.
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For the iPhone 4, I showed up at the main San Francisco store on the second day at 8:30 AM. Ended up waiting only 20 minutes in line before I got mine. Same story with the first iPad: launched on Friday, I went in after work on Monday and picked one up after about 10 minutes. They might keep the inventory a bit lower this time to keep up the hype, but the only real reason to show up on day 1 is to enjoy the atmosphere.
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I waited in line for a few hours to pick up a $149.99 32gig HP Touchpad. It was worth it. Lots of people envy it (for the price I paid). I have other tablets too and yet I find the Touchpad to be the item that keeps my attention.
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Woz is an enthusiast.
Woz has not fallen (Score:5, Insightful)
...how the mighty have fallen
He has not fallen. He is a supremely talented engineer and never imagined himself qualified to be an executive. His aspirations were quite different from Jobs. When Woz had a boatload of money he decided to go give back to the community and teach at a public school for a while. He still occasionally gets involved in a startup but it is usually in some engineering or scientific capacity not some kind of executive or management capacity.
Re:Woz has not fallen (Score:4, Funny)
Maybe he was talking about the fact that if he's standing in line on a Segway until tomorrow, the batteries will fail.
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Exactly. Woz's nightmare would be getting dragged, kicking and screaming, into being the CEO. On the other hand, he'd probably be tickled pink if he were offered the position of CTO (which, if you're a Silicon Valley rockstar, is basically the "I get to do the fun stuff, while that guy over there does the boring business grunt work" position in the company. MBAs dream of being CEO. Engineers dream of being a CTO with veto power over the CEO, so they can tell the CEO to go to hell when he tries to ruin their
An MBA is an add-on (Score:2)
... MBAs dream of being CEO ...
I got to call you on that one. An MBA is an add-on, it is not a core area of study. MBA students enter a program with various degrees, some may be business and accounting but others are scientific and engineering. I was one of the later, BS and MS in CS. I'd say about a third of my class came from scientific and engineering backgrounds. The MBA is an accountant meme is an urban myth. In my MBA program when 5 to 6 person groups (persistent, for group projects in core classes) were assigned they were careful
Jedi phone (Score:5, Funny)
I call it the Jedi phone. Use the 4S, Luke!
Re:First in line for Woz's old iPhone? (Score:5, Funny)
I bet that's worth more than a new iPhone...
Even with the gravy stains.
Re:3 *new* iPhones? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Well, hey, the moment the majority of Americans decide to quit buying stuff that's made in China, Apple will set up factories in the US.
But I don't see that happening any time soon, as most people prefer low cost above all else. Blame consumers, not Apple.
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>[M]ost people prefer low cost above all else. Blame consumers, not Apple.
That's a very convenient way for the rich and powerful to view the world. Blame the little guy who really is in charge while the billionaires and multinational megacorps are merely humbly doing our bidding. It's not like there is lobbying or advertising to pervert the system of consumerist power...
Re:3 *new* iPhones? (Score:4, Insightful)
As is so plainly evidenced by his eagerness to sit in line overnight with other iphone-geeking gadget-happy wonks. He could get another phone delivered, and he's hanging out all night.
<sarc> Yeah, the dude has so-oo completely forgotten what it is to be a nerd. </sarc>
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What a 1%er.
More like 0.00001%er, based on his accomplishments.
If he's getting one for his wife at the store, that means the first two are for him.
My guess: 1 to use, 1 to take apart.
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What on earth makes you think he paid for them? He co-founded the company... as if he doesn't get any Apple product he wants for free.
Consider the hassle involved with arranging for free product vs. making a credit card purchase, where in the time it takes to complete the online order he'll have made more in interest on his wealth than is spent on the order.
I wouldn't bother.
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Re:who gets phone #2 before his wife? (Score:5, Funny)
So he has 2 phones being delivered to his home, but he wants a 3rd one for his wife?
Is the second phone for his lover? His wifes lover? A pet? All of the above?
He's an engineer. One to take apart, and one to keep and use. He's waiting in line because his wife reminded him that she would like one too. :-)
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(+1 funny, and...)
Woz has two phones, one black and one white. They phone numbers end with 1 and 0, and the color of the phone corresponds to the standard resistor color stripe numbering. He is the ubergeek.
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...honestly, he doesn't have something more interesting to do with his time?
Please try and keep the disease that has ravaged most of Hollywood away from the "celebrities" of tech today...I'd rather Steve stay rather grounded and find something like this the "more interesting" thing to do rather than to act like most birthed from reality TV, stricken down with narcissistic elitism.
I find this activity rather refreshing, to be honest...
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Ohmygod... did that nearly happen? aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh!!
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