Woman explains why she is waiting in line for an iPhone 5

[Video Link] Mossberg, watch out -- Rachel's gunning for your job.

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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TheKaz1969

Methinks someone is getting paid to save a spot in line…
- ZikZak
  
  When you realize that, the situation has a kind of surreal symmetry. Workers at Foxconn work tirelessly to construct this product that they only vaguely understand. Meanwhile in the US, poor entrepreneurs grab them up with the same naivety.
  
  Somewhere, someone knows what this thing is for, and wants it very badly for some reason. All we know is that it’s Important.
  - twianto
    
    Why would Chinese workers only ‘vaguely’ understand an iPhone? Care to explain?
    - Ean Moody
      
      I think he’s suggesting that the people building them may or may not really understand what they’re doing. Pretty probably true, really. Most assembly line workers aren’t trained on the functionality of the parts they’re installing.
      
      They’ve been told to slot in the part from the bin labeled “27″, slot the big plug into the green receptor, connect the little plug to the blue receptor, make sure the light blinks, and then secure it with three torx screws. Why? Because Foxconn doesn’t care if the employee knows that they’re installing. Their job is to install it, not think.
      
      It’s a shame, because in places like the auto industry a lot of important innovations and optimizations were made by assembly line workers, back in the day when they actually learned about what they were doing.
      - twianto
        
        Total conjecture, sorry. Urban China ain’t some backwater that’s cut off from the world.
      - ZikZak
        
        You don’t have to be in a backwater cut off from the world to not know much about the iPhone 5. Heck, I didn’t know about it until I read this, and my parents probably still don’t. Most of the world knows next to nothing about this consumer device. And why would they? Unless they are in the narrow demographic of first-world tech consumers with disposable income, why would anyone care?
      - inedible
        
        I’ve watched a couple documentaries in which foxconn workers were shown a fully assembled ipad, and were absolutely amazed with what it could do. They’d never seen one turned on before.
        
        I’ve also read blogs by Bunnie Huang, who invented the chumby, and talked at length about the challenges he faced trying to get a chinese manufacturer to produce his device. I’m recalling a post where he flew out to china to troubleshoot a problem with manufacturing, and it turned out they were soldering the red battery line to negative and the black to positive. They all had years of soldering experience, but had no idea that black was negative and red was positive. They had no idea how the devices worked, or what they did, only how to solder them.
      - WestSide Artist
        
        http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2012/02/06/video-chinese-foxconn-worker-who-works-60-hours-a-week-making-ipads-but-has-never-seen-one/
    - dragonfrog
      
      Do you know how an iPhone 5 works? I mean, beyond “it’s a phone, but it also runs wizzy software, so I guess it’s more like a tiny computer, but then what isn’t these days, and it has some nice multitouch controls, and some stupidly obvious features that for some reason are patented.”
      
      Like, could you identify on the circuit board where the GPS chip is, and what components outside the chip directly support it? Comment on the engineering reasons for placing it there as opposed to at another spot on the circuit board? Say anything at all meaningful about its operating system architecture?
      
      I know I couldn’t – and it has nothing to do with my living in a backwater cut off from the world. I have a smartphone in my pocket right now that I only vaguely understand. If I worked assembling smart phones in a factory, my understanding of smart phones would not change significantly.
toasterslie

I think the source link is broken. Is this it?
http://www.uproxx.com/webculture/2012/09/opie-and-anthony-apple-store-lady/
http://www.spockosbrain.com spocko

Hoax. She is a total plant from the people at Apple, did you notice how much she got the brand name in? Total plant.
- http://www.alexkrupp.com alexkrupp
  
  “Total plant.”
  I believe the proper medical term is ‘vegetative state’.
  - professor
    
    I see what you did there
- evanplus
  
  if Apple planted someone they’d be more photogenic
  - http://www.xradiograph.com/ OtherMichael
    
    If they finally make that sequel to Altman’s Popeye*, she’s a shoo-in for Olive Oyl.
    
    *I’ve been spreading this rumour for literally seconds, but Hollywood keeps not acting on it.
  - SamSam
    
    Or photosynthetic…
  - p96
    
    And use words like amazing, incredible, phenomenal, revolutionary, and unbelievable.
- Jenz Seeger
  
  maybe total plant, but nice bun!
- Jonathan Roberts
  
  She looks more like a Samsung plant if anything, it would at least be more in line with their advertising.
d15724c710n

Are we supposed to side with Beaker? This looks like a case of picking on the meek. If there are any points to be made about the whim of people who think it worth their while to wait in line for any product, then surely there are dignified ways to make them.
- triscuit
  
  If she doesn’t know she’s being mocked, does it still count?
  - d15724c710n
    
    If it makes you feel superior, go ahead and mock her. You might also enjoy <random reality show>
- starfish and coffee
  
  When we get to the end and it appears that she has never owned a phone before.. I found it quite endearing.
  Either way, I am pretty sure she has some learning difficulties, so screw anyone getting snarky about this. She is trying her best.
  - teapot
    
    Nothing soothes the sting of insults like presuming the person is handicapped.
  - Wreckrob8
    
    Or maybe she has a shitty job with no internet access and can’t sit around all day reading boingboing and wants a smartphone so she can sneakily spend all day online at work to become better informed about all sorts of things and even about smartphones, too.
- Navin_Johnson
  
  As much as this kind of conspicuous consumption makes me want to barf, his smugness is just unbearable.
  
  Also, somebody mentioned that this kind of camping/blocking the sidewalk was ok, but if they were protesting they’d be facing police stormtroopers. I thought that was a good point.
  - millie fink
    
    http://fmacskasy.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/two-camps.jpg
  - Wreckrob8
    
    Conspicuous consumption? Isn’t that a bit harsh? She doesn’t seem excessively concerned with fashion. Despite wanting three phones she might not have much money and would just like to treat herself to something shiny and new so as not to feel excuded.
- teapot
  
  Actually I do side with him. What ever happened to saying “I don’t know” when you don’t know? Why do people feel like they have to satisfy the interviewer by playing along like they know?
  
  Just say “I don’t know” and you will sound far less stupid
Paul Renault

I’m sorely disappointed that the video isn’t in 1080p. It would enhance all the derpness.

/I’ve heard the next iPhone will have ‘moving pictures’ too, but with sound!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Roger-Nattkemper/1157035880 Roger Nattkemper

Summary:
I am not familiar with this product but it is pretty and has a white apple on it. Apple internets are safe, happy internets. They are only $200, I’m going to buy three of them on the credit card.

If she is an Apple shill, she’s not a very good one.
Rossi

If I were the type of person to wait in line for an iPhone (or anything else), that is definitely the type of chair I would do it in.
CSBD

I guess its better than waiting in line at the wedding ring/gun place from that earlier post.

“I want a ring and a shiny new Winchester 5… I have heard its cool and all woody looking with black metal parts and its better than the Winchester 4 which was crap, but this one will not be an internet scam and I will not have to share it with my hunting buddies”

I think it works for nearly every product in the right context.
http://www.kmoser.com kmoser

Samsung did a better job at making fun of iPhone 5 hipsters:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJafiCKliA8
- http://twitter.com/wi_ngo wingo shackleford
  
  That commercial was amusing the first time I saw it, but then I was somehow forced to watch it like 5000 more times over the course of the weekend.
Manny

She knows what she wants and the Apple 5 will give it to her. What she wants is not what *you* think is important, but she’s the one who’s going to be using it.
immovableobject

She does seem oblivious (right out of central casting for a Samsung commercial), but people with that level of cluelessness also buy other brands of phones every day. Ask anyone that works in a phone store. They just don’t get interviewed on camera.
- teapot
  
  They also don’t wait in line for 2 days to avoid “internet scams” perpetrated by the company that they are going to give their credit card details to anyway.
rattypilgrim

She’s being mentored by Victoria Jackson as the Tea Party’s next spokeswoman.
http://twitter.com/Kra1d Alex

To be frank, I think she just needs a little bit of watering.
sfnate

Come on guys! Let’s go laugh at the awkward freak on the playground, but pretend we’re his friend! And then we’ll post it YouTube and stuff! (Because it’s not bullying if you’re cool and hip and got a blog and podcast and stuff. Snicker.)

Hipsters crave freaky laughs and fortunately there are so many freaks out there to give them the freaky laughs they crave. It’s a veritable buffet of freaky delicacies! Yum yum.
Noel Nickol

It boggles my mind that any of you think this woman is for real.
- sfnate
  
  I’m just a caveman. I fell on some ice and later got thawed out by some of your hipster techno-fetishists. Your world frightens and confuses me! Sometimes the ringtones of your mobile phones make me want to run off into the hills, or wherever… Sometimes when I get a text message I wonder: “Did little demons get inside my cellphone and type it?” I don’t know! My primitive mind can’t grasp these concepts.
- rattypilgrim
  
  It’s pretty obvious the whole thing was a set up IMHO.
Emo Pinata

FWIW, this is an Opie and Anthony bit (essentially). Sam Roberts is playing it straight, but probably interviewed a few people in line to find the looniest and he knows how to work the anti-humor interview. I doubt it’s fake; it’s certainly a common enough technique in documentaries and cable news.
Grahamers2002

How do any of you think that this is for real?
Finnagain

Oh. There’s a new iphone? Is it any good?
Leto_Atreides

She’s obviously a poor person paid to wait in line. Pathetic.
http://twitter.com/digitalArtform Joseph Francis

I’m sure the police will be along any moment to clear that encampment.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Andy-Murdock/783770273 Andy Murdock

Aren’t we all superior today?
I’m wagging my finger at the world and feeling special.
Dusty Peterson

You know what I like about this video? Not the fact that he’s illustrating that this person knows nothing about what she’s in line for. What I like about this video is that the interviewer manages to make his point with the interview without doing anything to make this lady feel bad in anyway. He’s actually being quite nice to her. If anything, this interview feels pretty warm and fuzzy!

Mr. interviewer guy, you seem nice, and you can be my friend.
Jonathan Roberts

This isn’t a comment about her intelligence or anything else, but she kind of looks like she’s been animated by Pixar.
andyhavens

Everything about this — including the fact that BoingBoing posted it — makes me sad.
- Finnagain
  
  Sounds like someone is having a case of the mondays!
Derek Larson

After being in line for two days, I imagine that anyone would sound a bit off. I am still finding uses for my Android phone, so I applaud her willingness to embrace something new.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_EEMBEZWHDPEKERFVN5G6QAJAFY jeb

Somehow, I now understand Wyeth.
http://twitter.com/NeoVanGoth Bundestrøll

That’s an actor, some kind of comedian. She must be an actor. Please.
- Petzl
  
  I hope it’s an act. But I don’t think it’s an act. And I don’t think she’s all there.
kongjie

Looks like the new season of Tim and Eric has started…
http://www.facebook.com/mkevill Mike Kevill

When did Pat Metheny start doing journalism?