September 21, 2012
Lineups for iPhones are like lineups for Star Wars
Andy Ihnatko explains something that’s puzzled me for awhile: why do people line up to buy the latest version of the iPhone?
After all, it’s easily available online. And it’s not like waiting a day or two is going to kill you. Plus — bottom line — it’s just a phone!
Ihnatko deftly uses a Star Wars analogy in this piece for the Chicago Sun-Times:
It’s not about the phone. It’s about the adventure. It’s the same reason I showed up at the best THX-certified theater in New England to purchase first-day, first showing tickets to “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.” It wasn’t about the actual product. I wanted to be with a community of people who were so amped up about a new Star Wars movie that they were willing to get in line at 4 a.m. just to score tickets for a movie that still wouldn’t open for months.
The appeal of Star Wars has always eluded me, but I guess I kinda get it now. Thanks, Andy!