[bane]

> – At the Apple store I was at, Apple staff greeted people entering the queue, asked them what they intended to purchase and gave them a card (reservation)

Didn't do that at either of the two Apple stores I'm aware of (there are 5 in my area), or the three AT&T stores my friends went to.

> – You overheard a conversation in another company? Good ears. Extra credit for "she".

Grownup companies sometimes do things together, not every other company is your competitor.

> – "Hey neighbour! I couldn't help noticing you aren't mowing your lawn with a phone?!" "The screen was too tiny neighbourino!"

My neighborhood has a very active community message board and I know many of the member personally from neighborhood events.

> – "IT'S TOO LOUD, HOW DO YOU SHUT IT OFF?? I'M BLIND!!!"

Here are the exact quotes

Neighbor 1: "I'm not a fan. Hate what they did to ical. The new icons look like they are for small children (that i can get over). And the bright white is obnoxious. What the hell did they do to safari?? I'm sad ... But im sure i will eventually get used to it. "

Neighbor 2: "I'm not "upgrading" yet. Hate the font."

Neighbor 1: "Everything is bright white and hard for me read...feeling old."

Neighbor 3: "So far I actually like it. The calendar took me a minute to get used to as well. At first I didn't like it until I realized you get a 5 day shot when you turn it on its side. I can't figure out how to do a list view yet - is there one?"

Neighbor 1: "I have light sensitivity issues (Astigmatism in both eyes - and I also have cataracts - God I sound old!) so the bright white is just harsh for me and not having huge contrasting colors is also hard on my eyes. Yep I agree the one swipe to have controls is nice and I do like what they did with the photos."

Neighbor 4: "Steve Jobs is probably rolling over in his grave right now..."

Neighbor 5: "I downloaded on my iPhone the other night, not a fan. But I downloaded on my iPad earlier today, and I don't mind it at all. But it is way too bright."

Neighbor 1: "Thank you for saying its too bright ... I was beginning to wonder if it was me."

> – 'Hey Wifey, wanna line up in this 2 hour queue? Dum, de dum [two hours in the queue pass]. Oh hey, we're at the front of the queue! Nah this sucks. Wanna go buy some Samsung Galaxies? YES!'

Talked to him in person (he's next door). And that was pretty much the conversation.

> – Your astro-turfing obviously disinterests you, as does your job and it shows dude :[ Quit your job.

What does my job have to do with this?

[jasonpbecker]

Minimally, the first point is wrong. Official Apple Retail stores all do this the same way. Reservation cards were provided. It's possible that the person while in line was informed they didn't have the color they wanted and left, but highly, highly unlikely (unless they entered later in the day) that they made it into the store and had to walk out.

FWIW, I did see a few people leave because the color they wanted was not available, either to try a carrier store or order online and wait.

Also, 9M in sales and the huge upgrade numbers pretty much speak for themselves. YMMV, but the anecdotes from your circle are not reflective of what happened.

[bane]

You're probably right about the apple brand stores. My personal network didn't relay it that way though. Time will tell if these are sustainable sales figures. They are certainly impressive no matter what. But with a year between phones, I don't think a weekend hit sales model is the best way to do things.

[Terretta]

Tell the too bright astigmatism neighbor they're in luck, Apple offers an inverted colors function just for them.

Tell the font neighbor they're in luck, they can change both the face and the size.

[bane]

I will! Thanks!