The real story behind the huge crowds gathered at iPhone launches
The iPhone launches raise the seemingly obvious question: What sane person would queue overnight for an over-priced, at best incrementally-changed gadget LATEST NEWS : Apple’s special edition iPhone X release – like the new iPhones before it – brings thousands of people lining up in front of Apple stores around the globe. It raises the seemingly obvious question: what sane person would queue overnight for an over-priced, at best incrementally-changed gadget? But what sounds like a question for psychologists, may actually be better addressed as a matter of the way media and markets work. You’d be forgiven for expecting this article to be a rant about the blatant consumerism of the people that stand in line – many overnight – to get the latest iPhone. Or against the world’s obsession with smartphones more generally. After ten years of extensive media coverage of each launch, we’ve all grown used to the clichéd pictures of “die-hard fans” queuing outside Ap...