toggle

AAPL Stock: 497.67 ( -11.79 )

MacNN News

Photos, video from iBook sale "mayhem"

updated 11:25 am EDT, Wed August 17, 2005

iBook sale \"mayhem\"

. An estimated 5500 people were on hand when the gates were opened, according to NBC12 News. What followed has been described as a "mob scene" by those present. Starletta Wilson pointed to her child�s broken stroller, �Yeah, they pushed me, look at my child's stroller... they actually pushed me and stampeded over me." Dustin Coppinger, who attended the sale, said he saw an older man run over by anxious buyers, "An old man in a walker was trampled to the ground.� Trampled to the ground... walked all over," he said.

by MacNN Staff

(28)

TAGS :

industry

Share the Article

Facebook Twitter Delious Slash Dot Digg

toggle

Comments

HowieDI2
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2002

0

08/17, 11:48am | report spam | close Reply |
cheap greedy b*******!

Oh yes! Give me a used 4 year old iBook. I'll stampede to get one. Why should I pay $1000 for a new, pristine iBook with a lot more features and more speed when I can stand in line for a USED 4 year old iBook! What a waste of time.

cebritt
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2000

0

08/17, 11:52am | report spam | close Reply |
I hope they removed...

...all of the p*** and bootleg music off of the hard drives before they sold them!

jimster
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2005

0

08/17, 11:56am | report spam | close Reply |
RE: I hope they

I hoped they did NOT remove the p*** and music... That alone is worth the $50.00

toddjkelly
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2005

0

08/17, 12:06pm | report spam | close Reply |
eesh

That entire town is FULL of a$$hats. Knock over children and the elderly? FOR OLD iBOOKS? Please. remind me never to move there.

TK

madgunde
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2002

0

08/17, 12:07pm | report spam | close Reply |
What a steal!

I'm sorry, but I'd stand in line to get a $50 4-year old Apple iBook. I have a 9 year old PowerMac 9600 still chugging along as a web server running Mac OS X, a 4 year old iBook is still very usable for many purposes.

I wish more people would beat people who try to cut ahead of the line with a folding chair, maybe then it would happen less often.

billearl
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2000

0

08/17, 12:30pm | report spam | close Reply |
What about a lottery?

A lottery could have avoided the whole mess. Send in your name & phone number then, if your name is drawn, drop in to pick up your iBook. Simple.

TRRosen
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: May 2002

0

08/17, 12:38pm | report spam | close Reply |
expected

lets see 1000 iBooks ebay value $300 each total value $300,000 sold for $50,000 so they essentially put $250,000 on the ground and said go get it, The result is no big surprise.

PS at last check 4 are allready on ebay

apple4ever
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2001

0

08/17, 12:40pm | report spam | close Reply |
Hahahaha

Is it wrong that I found this hilarious? I couldn't stop laughing. Idiots.

Toyin
Mac Elite

Joined: Nov 2000

0

08/17, 12:41pm | report spam | close Reply |
That's Sad

Unbelievable what people will do when they see a 'sale'. The same has happened at bridal stores that do the same thing.

What's even more pathetic is the genius who decided to sell 1000 iBooks for $50. They were probably trying to make a statement about the program. To bad, because they could have easily sold each iBook for $200. Instead the school system takes a +$150,000 loss. Idiots.

MChieh
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2000

0

08/17, 01:02pm | report spam | close Reply |
Scene from Zombie Movie?

LOL, put these @$$es in zombie makeup and you'd have a scene from a zombie movie like "Dawn of the Dead" or something.

MacnnGregor
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2004

0

08/17, 01:18pm | report spam | close Reply |
Sure...

... people in a crowds act stupidly, but it was the fault of the Henricho School District to set it up that way!! They are stupid enough to switch to Dells and then give away laptops that look like big iPods for only $50?!?!? How is that supposed to be as fiscally responsible as they claim the Dell deal was?!?!

When they start to calculate all of the maintenance costs that the Dell's will generate, maybe they will reflect back on their decision making process and maybe, just maybe learn somethings. THEY are the idiots.

adamschneider
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Dec 1999

0

08/17, 01:21pm | report spam | close Reply |
morons

They could have EASILY sold them for $200 each. They'd have grossed 4x as much money, and they probably would've spent considerably less on crowd control (while still selling every last one).

patioman
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: May 2005

0

08/17, 01:39pm | report spam | close Reply |
Wooo

Next, someone should sell off 50 iPods for 30 bucks apiece.

Paul Huang
Dedicated MacNNer

Joined: Sep 1999

0

08/17, 01:57pm | report spam | close Reply |
Mark it down for $200 ea.

And the 5,500 figure (people lined up) would have been easily reduced to 25% (~1,400) of the original turn out.

iomatic
Mac Elite

Joined: Oct 1999

0

08/17, 02:28pm | report spam | close Reply |
Indeed

And, not only would the iBooks still be sold with increased price, but perhaps a 25% less likelihood of violence.

Ridiculous.

ibugv4
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jun 2003

0

08/17, 02:36pm | report spam | close Reply |
eh

I've seen worse at Best Buys in Tennessee during the holidays. Please.

Jonathan-Tanya
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2004

0

08/17, 02:41pm | report spam | close Reply |
ironic

now that there are newly 1,000 mac owners in henrico county...its going to be one of the highest percentage mac ownership in the country...

probably clamouring for the school districts to buy macs next year.

skyweir
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Dec 2002

0

08/17, 03:26pm | report spam | close Reply |
The real idiots here

didn't they have the brains to hand out vouchers BEFORE the sale to folks on line. That would have eliminated at least 3000 of the 5000. Heck, if I'd been hurt in this poorly managed fire sale I'd hire a lawyer and end up with a brand new PB and a whole lot more.

These idiots run the school system? Those kids are in real trouble.

Deal
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Apr 2001

0

08/17, 04:00pm | report spam | close Reply |
Badly Managed

This was really dumb. Create line, then open a gate and make people run 200 yards to where the iBooks are.

That is just the dumbest thing I've heard. I can't believe that who ever knew of this plan didn't see this problem coming.

Ralf_Wiggum
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: May 2002

0

08/17, 04:06pm | report spam | close Reply |
Henrico Madhouse

The $50 iBook was a great deal. The Dells they are buying are also a great deal, especially for all of the IT guys in the school system. Just wait until 30-50 teenagers download that iTunes file that is really a trojan horse. Then the real fun begins.

There is no way I would have waited six hours for a chance at a used/abused iBook. They probably need RAM, bigger hard drives, and wireless cards.

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

0

08/17, 04:10pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: sure

When they start to calculate all of the maintenance costs that the Dell's will generate,

Except the contract with dell covers maintenance, so there isn't some 'increased maintenance cost' coming into play. And their deal, IIRC, included a percentage of 'extra' machines to hand out when a laptop has a hardware/software issue. [What would be really funny, however, is if on school day one, all the laptops got infected by some new windows virus, bringing all computers to a halt.]

And its not like the iBooks are known for their long-life (I'm on my third motherboard for my two-year-old system), and other mac systems have their own issues (iMac G5 problems, anyone).

suhail
Senior User

Joined: Nov 1999

0

08/17, 04:33pm | report spam | close Reply |
Indusry

The computer industry would be boring without Apple!

iolaire
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2001

0

08/17, 05:16pm | report spam | close Reply |
re: iPod sales

Re: Next, someone should sell off 50 iPods for 30 bucks apiece.

Yes, and sell water to the people in line and you will pay for the iPods....

Souljah
Junior Member

Joined: Aug 2002

0

08/17, 06:45pm | report spam | close Reply |
Why post a footage link..

...that doesn't work in Safari.

Sheesh!

gregy
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2005

0

08/17, 09:35pm | report spam | close Reply |
we looked at eBay comps

It's amazing the school system underpriced these by ~$250 ... that's $250,000 they lost. We looked at comps on eBay at Independent Sources.

Does anyone know how close the Dell bid was to Apple's? Under $250k?

jaisun
Forum Regular

Joined: Feb 2000

0

08/17, 10:53pm | report spam | close Reply |
RE: Badly Managed

Given how quickly/easily the mob mentality governs a crowd these days, I suppose I agree. However, let's not discount the fact that these people could have been a bit more civil. Great bargain aside, there's no good reason to trample over others for a computer. And frankly, it sadens me to see how quickly common sense and general decency dissipate when personal gain/loss is at stake.

kitcho1
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2005

0

08/18, 08:21pm | report spam | close Reply |
idiots

heres an idea: sell each laptop for 250$ and give the difference to charity if they really dont want the money. basically given the low price people, wanting a laptop or not, went there and now theres a ton of people taking their 250,000$ via ebay.

debohun
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Feb 1999

0

08/22, 10:52am | report spam | close Reply |
Irresponsible...

If a private sector company had pulled such a stunt they would have been cited for presentating an atrractive nuesance and made libal for all the damage. As it was, it was a public school (a government school), so probably no one will be held accountable. Further, with demand like that, clearly the iBooks were underpriced. The taxpayers of Henrico County should be furious at the school district for essentially giving away hard earned tax money.

Show More Comments

Login Here

toggle

Network Headlines

02/15	Apple upgrades iBookstore with screenshots...
02/15	Congress asks Apple to answer questions...
02/15	FLA head describes Foxconn plants as...
02/15	Apple asks to sue bankrupt Kodak in...
02/15	Apple voluntarily pulls iPads from...

Show All

02/15	Congress asks Apple to answer questions...
02/15	FLA head describes Foxconn plants as...
02/15	Apple asks to sue bankrupt Kodak in...
02/15	Apple voluntarily pulls iPads from...
02/15	Gartner: Apple No 1 vendor in Q4, but...

Show All

02/15	Apple upgrades iBookstore with screenshots...
02/15	Congress asks Apple to answer questions...
02/14	Apple attempting to disrupt Siri hacks...
02/14	Readability iOS app delayed, Android...
02/13	Apple launches 2012 back-to-school...

Show All

02/15	Monster iCarPlay Wireless FM Transmitter...
02/14	Refurb. 16GB iPhone 4, now only $259...
02/13	Refurb. Flip UltraHD Pocket Digital...
02/10	$380 off refurbished 2.8GHz Mac Pro...
02/09	iHome Dual Alarm Clock for Apple iPod...

Show All

toggle

Photos, video from iBook sale "mayhem"

updated 11:25 am EDT, Wed August 17, 2005

iBook sale \"mayhem\"

Related Articles

Recent Articles

cheap greedy b*******!

I hope they removed...

RE: I hope they

eesh

What a steal!

What about a lottery?

expected

Hahahaha

That's Sad

Scene from Zombie Movie?

Sure...

morons

Wooo

Mark it down for $200 ea.

Indeed

eh

ironic

The real idiots here

Badly Managed

Henrico Madhouse

Re: sure

Indusry

re: iPod sales

Why post a footage link..

we looked at eBay comps

RE: Badly Managed

idiots

Irresponsible...

Login Here

Register for our weekly email newsletter:

Connect tools:

Subscribe

to our RSS

Follow us

on Twitter

10 Most Read

10 Most Discussed

MacNN Marketplace