What a week it was for tech. Within the space of 24 hours the world went gadget crazy a couple of weeks ago, with the launch of the Nintendo 3DS and the iPad 2, with some people queueing for a week before the doors opened. But why do they do it? Read on for the full scoop.
The man at the front of the queue was Jewels Lewis. It was a full 33 hours before the iPad 2 went on sale. Lewis, from London, was also near the front the first time round, but missed out on first place. “Last year I was fourth in the queue so I wanted to make sure I was first this year,” he told the Metro newspaper. “When I got here this morning and saw no one else I thought, “Yes, this is it,” put my chair down and started enjoying the sunshine.”
But it wasn’t just the iPad 2 that had people queuing round the block. Marwan Elgamal, 21, from Wembley, north London, was first in line for the Nintendo 3DS. He told the Daily Mail, “I’m just really passionate about the consoles and I think they are amazing and just make me want to play. Wednesday night was really cold but it will be worth it to get one and I can’t wait to get home and play it.”
Some are even willing to miss out on their first choice of model. Writing on iPhaze.com, Criag Phillips says of buying the iPhone 3G on launch day, “All I had to do was sacrifice my first choice – 16GB. I had to go down to an 8GB device, but I was so wrapped up in the moment and so full to the brim with excitement I didn’t really care. I kept making justifications in my head – thinking of the albums I wouldn’t put on it, thinking about the pictures I didn’t need on it, dreaming of all the apps I had read about that I was about to purchase and sync with it. I was on cloud nine.”
With an atmosphere like a festival combined with some good weather (if you’re lucky), it’s no wonder so many of them come back time and time again (second in line for the iPad 2 was first in the queue for the iPhone 4). And that’s before we get to the freebies. Griffin handed out cases to the iPad 2 queue, Jewels Lewis is said to have received a bed from a company; in Australia, LogMeIn ordered pizzas for the queue from its office nearby. And with newspapers and websites descending on the day as part of the media circus, who can blame the punters for wanting their spot in the limelight? They were going to buy the device anyway, why not make a day of it?
Concerning the hype in Australia over the iPad 2, Renai Lemay points to how essential these devices have become to our everyday lives, saying it’s hardly surprising people want to be first in line. Writing at Delimiter, he says, “In 2011, many Australians depend on technology to get the most from their lives in a wide variety of ways. Any technological improvement or upgrade which will allow them to do things faster or more efficiently has the potential to impinge on the quality of their life in a major way.” OK, so the 3DS may be less ‘essential’ than an iPad 2, but if you were the only kid at school without one, your social standing would instantly fall a few notches.
First to pick up the Nintendo handheld in the US was none other than Isaiah ‘Triforce’ Johnson, a man who takes obsessive fandom to a new level. He camped out for a week, accepting the 3DS while wearing a Power Glove. He was also the first to pick up a Wii back in 2006. And how does he explain his obsession? Simply by saying, “I played Legend of Zelda, and that was it for me.”
