The Apple hype surrounding new iPhone product launches can be insane sometimes with people camping outside their stores for days in order to be among the first to purchase. With this years launch of the iPhone 6 & 6+ a New York filmmaker, Casey Neistat, documented one stores launch and noticed a trend -- many of the buyers seemed to be proxy customers who quickly handed the phones over to somebody else after leaving the store.
The NY Times ran a similar story back in 2010 targeting Chinese buyers acting as proxy customers for Apple phones to be quickly shipped to China where the devices are not yet available in the local market.
Four years later and the Washington Post runs a nearly identical story highlighting that the early demand for Apple products in a booming China economy has opened the door for new iPhones to be sold for several thousand dollars.
Anybody here stand in line on launch day? On a 'bigger picture' thought process, is the a sign of the turning point where Apple is less about the technology and more about being an American pop culture to be consumed around the world?
The NY Times ran a similar story back in 2010 targeting Chinese buyers acting as proxy customers for Apple phones to be quickly shipped to China where the devices are not yet available in the local market.
Four years later and the Washington Post runs a nearly identical story highlighting that the early demand for Apple products in a booming China economy has opened the door for new iPhones to be sold for several thousand dollars.
Anybody here stand in line on launch day? On a 'bigger picture' thought process, is the a sign of the turning point where Apple is less about the technology and more about being an American pop culture to be consumed around the world?
Some thoughts from me (the guy who made this movie). I am a big tech nerd. I slept on the streets to get the very first iPhone, when I was a teenager I would wait all night at the mall for a new video game. For the 2013 launch of the iPhone 5s I made a short video about the lines in NYC, most of the video was of enthusiastic Apple fans, not unlike myself, eagerly waiting to get their hands on the new iPhone. There was also a percentage of line sitters that lacked all enthusiasm, one in particular was asleep with her head inside of a garbage bag. Those images bothered me, they were also the most talked about aspect of that 4 minute video. For this year's iPhone 6 launch my intention was to cover that aspect of the story - sitters there for reasons other than their enthusiasm for the product.
I don't think Apple, the community or any of the people in line for any reason were doing anything wrong. I attribute no fault for the bleak circumstances captured in this video. If there is an opportunity for easy gains by reselling the phones then by all means do it. I, also, cannot imagine Apple anticipated this or they would've better considered the roll out (they thought of everything else, including coffee for the people waiting outside).
There should be better consideration of how to prevent a system that benefits those willing to sleep on the streets, near garbage, tolerating verbal abuse.
I empathize with the ambitions of those willing to sit in line to earn. Since making the video I have read a number of stories about the iPhone 6 selling for 3 or 4 times it's cost.
Read more about the iPhone 6 Black Market in this Washington Post Article - http://wapo.st/1uY2td5
I don't think Apple, the community or any of the people in line for any reason were doing anything wrong. I attribute no fault for the bleak circumstances captured in this video. If there is an opportunity for easy gains by reselling the phones then by all means do it. I, also, cannot imagine Apple anticipated this or they would've better considered the roll out (they thought of everything else, including coffee for the people waiting outside).
There should be better consideration of how to prevent a system that benefits those willing to sleep on the streets, near garbage, tolerating verbal abuse.
I empathize with the ambitions of those willing to sit in line to earn. Since making the video I have read a number of stories about the iPhone 6 selling for 3 or 4 times it's cost.
Read more about the iPhone 6 Black Market in this Washington Post Article - http://wapo.st/1uY2td5
