IPod Shuffle Sparks Stampede
By Daniel Terdiman | Also by this reporter Page 1 of 1
02:00 AM Jan. 12, 2005 PT
SAN FRANCISCO -- To see the mob at the San Francisco Apple Store
late Tuesday morning, you might have thought U2 was in the
house.
But the actual star of the day was the brand new iPod shuffle, a
$100, 512-MB music player and Apple Computer's shot across the bow
of its competitors in the low-end MP3 player category.
Just minutes earlier, at the close of his Macworld keynote address
at Moscone Center, Apple CEO Steve Jobs had said he'd "heard a
rumor" that the iPod shuffle was available at the nearby Apple
Store, two blocks north. That set off a rush of more than 100
people who couldn't wait to get their hands on the new
product.
"I'm here because I'm scared that they'll be sold out if I wait
until tomorrow," said Steve Salos, an employee at the nearby
CompUSA store. "At CompUSA, I get my (employee discount, but the
Apple Store is) the only place you can get" the iPod shuffle.
In recent years, keynote attendees were treated to wireless
internet connections and were able to order whatever product Jobs
had just announced online. But this year, there was no working
Wi-Fi in the auditorium, and so, perhaps by design, frantic
would-be iPod shuffle buyers had little choice but to try to beat
the crowd to the Apple Store.
"It was mass hysteria," said Paul Spalek, who was canvassing
outside the Apple Store for the Fund for Public Interest. "There
were pretty much people from every depth of the street who were
taking pictures.... Everyone was in their own little head because
of this."
Anthony Kolb, an Apple Store employee, said he was just returning
from his lunch break when he saw the mass of people descending on
the store.
"It was pretty insane," Kolb said. "I had to swim through people to
the back. It was a lot of fun."
Kolb also said that, due to the secrecy that always surrounds new
Apple product launches, he and other store employees had not known
what the big Macworld launch would be. Thus, he said, he had no
advance sales training.
"You're going to know when the customer knows," he said he was
told. "So you're going to have to learn (how to sell it) as fast as
possible."
Meanwhile, inside the store, employee Michael Lyen was handing out
iPod shuffles as fast as he could pull them out of boxes. Many
people were taking two and three at a time. It had the feel of
someone handing out freebies on the street. Such is the lure of
being one of the first to shell out $100 for a music player that is
shorter than a pen.
Stefano Scalia, who was standing in line to buy one, said the whole
experience was an exercise in being a part of what he called "Steve
Jobs' reality-distortion field."
"Anything he says, everybody buys it," Scalia said. "I just wanted
to run out and get one even though I'm on a tight budget.... I'm a
die-hard Mac user, and basically, everyone's going to have one. I
need to have one."
It's not just Mac users who are buying iPod shuffles. Like the rest
of the iPod family, the new devices work with either Macs or PCs,
making it clear that Apple intends to take over what little of the
music player market it doesn't already control.
Given the iPod shuffle's placement as the final announcement at
Jobs' keynote, it is becoming apparent that, regardless of the name
of the show, the iPod is Apple's standard-bearer.
That doesn't necessarily sit well with everyone.
"I like the Mac for the operating system and the computer," said
Kolb. "The iPod is cool, but the Mac is cooler. I would hate to see
the iPod take over the company."
Kolb shouldn't worry. On Jan. 22, Apple will begin selling its new
Mac mini, Jobs' other big announcement of the day. With the Mac
mini priced at $500, Kolb will probably have to swim his way
through a sea of Mac buyers.
End of story
