“When companies disparage market leaders
by name, it just confirms the market leader is
the one to buy and makes a ‘free’ positive brand
impression for them in the minds of prospective
buyers,” Kalb wrote on September 20, 2002, for
Business Insider. “Disparaging the competition
does nothing to give buyers reasons to buy yours.
In fact, many presume you are knocking the mar-
ket leader because you want to ride its coattails.”
As well as being effective advertising for
Apple, the long lines have created opportunities
for other brands. Companies either hand out
giveaways to the captive audience or pay some of
the people in line to wear a T-shirt with the com-
pany logo. As Apple Store openings and product
launches became major news events, companies
hoped their brand’s logo would appear in a
published photo or televised newscast.
More recently, Apple has changed its go-to-
market practices, allowing most products to be
preordered a week before the public launch, and
this shift in strategy has made product launches
less of a public spectacle. Rather than wait in line,
many of even the most die-hard devotees now
purchase their upgrade ahead of time.
But nothing generates a long line like an
exciting new product and rumors that it is in short
supply. The long lines, complete with early camp-
ers and pandemonium when the doors opened,
returned to a few Apple Stores in November 2017
when the iPhone X went on sale.
With walk-in purchases of the iPhone X
limited, eager upgraders began queuing up a
few days before launch. In Tokyo, one customer
tweeted that he had been offered ¥10,000 for
his spot in line. Singapore Apple Store workers
pleaded with throngs outside store doors to
leave some breathing room. A customer from
the line outside the store in Sydney, Australia,
tweeted that he had not seen so long a line since
the iPhone 6, the model before Apple began
offering preorders.
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