New York Apple Store Opening: Scuffles and Rioting [UPDATED]
New York Apple Store Opening: Scuffles and Rioting [UPDATED]
by , 1:55 PM EST, December 10th, 2007
At the opening of the Apple retail store at 14th Street and 9th Ave in New York on December 7th, a very large crowd became somewhat aggressive when the doors opened, and turned riotous, according to Kenn Marks Sr. at PowerPage on Saturday.
There was light snowfall as 6:00 PM approached with an estimated 6,800 in line. "Everyone in line was congenial and typical Apple event camaraderie abounded, that is until the doors opened then the rock concert mentality kicked in; pushing shoving and line jumping," Mr. Marks reported. "The NYPD and hired SECURITY force had to increase it's presence and started ejecting rowdy persons from the line."
"My friend who went up to NY from the Philly area with me has attended over a dozen Apple openings worldwide and he said this one really scared him so much, almost to the point of leaving the line and going back to Philly without our goodies" Mr. Marks continued. "I have attended a couple other Store openings myself and yes this was the most disorganized and uncontrolled of any."Even more alarming was this observation: "People on crutches were almost being pushed to the ground and they crowded almost to suffocation a man in a wheel chair. The line did not care, they wanted their freebies," the report said.
One person told Mr. Marks that he'd received an e-mail from Apple "stating the first 10 people in line would receive a free laptop." Two local radio stations reported that "free iPods would be given to anyone in line over age 21."
Mr. Marks couldn't confirm the larger prizes, but most people ended up with US$10 iTunes gift certificates and a poster of Manhattan comprised of a grid of iPhone/Google map displays.
[UPDATE: The original story was attributed incorrectly to Jason O'Grady. The author of the story at Mr. O'Grady's PowerPage.org Website was Kenn Marks, Sr.]
Observer Comments
Mon Dec 10, 2007 3:28 pm Subject: Sorry to hear that
Some people can be such savages when they think they can get something for free... "The hell with social conventions, I'll stomp on anyone's throat if it gets me a nifty laptop!"
This reminds me specifically of that time a year or two ago when a school was giving away their old iBooks for $50... parents were getting into fist fights over that crap.
That kind of thing should be handled with a lottery system. Pick a number, take your place in line, feel free to browse around our spankin' new store while we announce winners. And above all, show some freakin' civility.
Sadly, this is not a new human phenomenon. The reign of the last Emporer of Russian, Tsar Nicholas, got off to a tragic start with a similar incident, that turned out much worse than what happenned here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khodynka_Field
Sadly, this is not a new human phenomenon. The reign of the last Emporer of Russia, Tsar Nicholas, got off to a tragic start with a similar incident of people scrambling for free stuff:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khodynka_Field
My brother and i were appalled to think Mac users could stoop to such behavior. But after a little thought, he came up with the obvious explanation:
"...maybe it is some of those Windows cross-over people. Yeah, that's the ticket. It's Windows users panicking to get away from Windows. I feel better now."
or are we not allowed to take cheap shots during the holidays? 
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