Orange Pays Actors To Stand In Line For The iPhone

from the losing-its-magic? dept

When the disco era was dying, the story was that the famed Studio 54 in New York had to start paying people to stand out front in line, so that it still look the club was still a happening place. Is the same thing happening with the iPhone? Over in Poland, mobile operator Orange is happily admitting that it’s paying actors to stand in line to wait for the launch of the new iPhone: “We have these fake queues at front of 20 stores around the country to drum up interest in the iPhone.” That seems like a rather blatant admission that the phone itself isn’t enough to drum up interest. Somehow, though, I don’t think the iPhone is going the route of disco just yet.

Filed Under: , , ,
Companies: apple, orange

Rate this comment as insightful
Rate this comment as funny
You have rated this comment as insightful
You have rated this comment as funny
Flag this comment as abusive/trolling/spam
You have flagged this comment
The first word has already been claimed
The last word has already been claimed
Insightful Lightbulb icon Funny Laughing icon Abusive/trolling/spam Flag icon Insightful badge Lightbulb icon Funny badge Laughing icon Comments icon

Comments on “Orange Pays Actors To Stand In Line For The iPhone”

Subscribe: RSS Leave a comment
37 Comments
Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re:

How can you make a pollock joke over this? This proves the Polish comsumer is smarter than the American consumer, not to fall for the hype of a crappy bug ridden phone.

It could be chalked up in a series of advertisements- “A Sale About Nothing”, “No Phone For YOU!”, followed up with “There Was Line Shrinkage!” All of course, Starring Jerry Seinfeld.

jack says:

Re: Its time . . .

obviously if u think its just a fashion statement u have never used one of these phones it has advanced every part of the cell phone and mp3 player/ipod let me list a few of the ways
touch screen
mobile internet
moblie email
phone computer compatiability
mobile computing
music phones
and there are tons more

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re: Its time . . .

Well, let me respond to your ummmm…great examples of iPhone superiority.

touch screen – This one I’ll give you. The iPhone has the best touch screen I have used yet on a mobile phone.

mobile internet – Doesn’t even support flash or Java, try again.

moblie email – How long did it take Apple to add support for corporate e-mail?

phone computer compatiability – Really? that’s funny cause my cell phone lets me transfer files via bluetooth, how’s the iPhone leading the way on this? Oh and my phone can sync with my calendar via bluetooth as well.

mobile computing – limiting developers to one store, and telling them there is a list of things they can’t do is not leading the way in mobile computing, it is taking a step backwards. Phones with built in J2ME or Full Java support have many more apps available to them, many of which are free.

music phones – I have a pair of Bluetooth stereo headphones for my cellphone, got any that will work with your iPhone? I can also add music by transfering via bluetooth, putting another memory card in, downloading via Mobile Web, or if I really want to go old school, I could use a USB cable for it (and mine doesn’t have to be a proprietary USB cable either).

and there are tons more – perhaps you should list them, as I have debunked all but one of your examples? And I hope you really enjoy your iPhone in a year when your battery won’t hod a charge any longer. I’ll pay $20 for a new battery, how much will you pay for a new iPhone? Ohhh you can’t get one yet your still in a 2 year contract. Enjoy!!

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re: Re: Its time . . .

“touch screen done before by Palm
mobile internet done before by Palm
“moblie” email done before by Palm
phone computer “compatiability” done before by Palm
mobile computing done before by Palm “

And wasnt Palm founded by Apple engineers who left after thier PDA project (and handwriting recognition platform) was canceled in the mid 90s (the Newton I think?). Apple did have a founding genius, his name was WAZ! (sadly they are just a marketing company now)

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re:

The iPhone is a “fashionable” Blackberry with a touch screen. Nothing more.

Have to disagree with you on that one. It’s a full fledged OSX kernel with a trimmed-down UI/Shell.

That’s why there’s over 1000 apps available for in within 30 days. How many does Blackberry have after, what 7 years..?

Spectere (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re:

That’s why there’s over 1000 apps available for in within 30 days. How many does Blackberry have after, what 7 years..?

The BlackBerry can run mobile Java applications without forcing users to jump through hoops so, uh, quite a few. You can also develop Java applications without being squelched by an overbearing NDA.

I’m not saying that the iPhone is bad, per se, but Apple could certainly do a better job in keeping their independent developers happy.

NH says:

Hype

To all those elitist haters who seem to feel they are far more clever than the rest of us becuase they have not bought into the hype… Just remember marketing only ever goes so far. If no one genuinely wants it, it will not be bought.

I have an IPhone because I want one – what it does suits what I want from a phone, the same reason I got a N95 before. I did not want the first one because it was not 3G – no amount of marketing would have changed that.

And no I did not pay for it, free on my call plan.

Add Your Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here

Comment Options:

Make this the or (get credits or sign in to see balance) what's this?

What's this?

Techdirt community members with Techdirt Credits can spotlight a comment as either the "First Word" or "Last Word" on a particular comment thread. Credits can be purchased at the Techdirt Insider Shop »

Follow Techdirt

Techdirt Daily Newsletter

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

A weekly news podcast from
Mike Masnick & Ben Whitelaw

Subscribe now to Ctrl-Alt-Speech »
Techdirt Deals
Techdirt Insider Discord
The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...
Loading...