Steve Wozniak out of line at iPhone store?
Steve Wozniak sits with friends before he allegedly got up to cut in line at a San Jose Apple store
(Credit: Doug Broussard)
Updated at 10 a.m. PDT with comment from Steve Wozniak.
Steve Wozniak helped create Apple. He's worth millions. He's a hero to geeks the world over.
Would he really pretend to wait in line for Apple gadgets?
That's the claim of some perturbed customers who say that Wozniak--contrary to media reports--did not wait in line all night in front of the Apple Store at Westfield Valley Fair Mall in San Jose, Calif., to buy an iPhone 3G.
In fact, according to Doug and Patrice Broussard, Woz actually never waited in line at all. The couple, who were there, said the Apple co-founder lounged on some of the mall's nearby sofas for about four hours and then ambled up to the front of the queue when the store opened at 8 a.m and simply cut in line. No discussion.
And he wasn't alone. He had his posse in tow, say the Broussards, who photographed the Woz playing big shot. Didn't anybody say anything?
No. Doug Broussard said it all happened too quickly and, well, who's going to send the creator of the Apple II to the end of the line?
Still, the Broussards said the people who saw it were unhappy.
Who doesn't know the politics of waiting in lines? Taking cuts is bad form, even for VIPs. But those who give them to friends--six friends--risk a butt kicking from those behind in line.
On Friday, when the iPhone 3G went on sale, Apple stores were letting in only about 30 people at a time. This means seven people who might have spent hours in that mall waiting could have gone home sooner had it not been for the Woz and his buddies.
Wozniak could not be reached to comment Saturday night, but he did respond to this report in the CNET News' TalkBack section, asserting that he had been invited by the store staff to be in the front of the line and that store staff had cleared it with those already in front (read his entire response here):
I told them I would come at 10 AM and get in line and they told me back that the line would be short and they had talked to the people in front and that the people in front WANTED me to go first. I discussed the fact that I'd be with a small group too. The Apple store staff also said that the chairs and table in front of the store would be reserved for me. So sitting in those chairs I was in line. I am thankful for the chairs. I'm actually older than almost everyone in the lines these days.
Woz, just after he and about six friends jumped to the head of the line.
(Credit: Doug Broussard)
Is this the end of the world? Not likely. But if the Broussards' account is accurate, it was unfair and, in Wozniak's case, unnecessary.
Besides, by his own admission, he doesn't even have to wait. He's boasted in the past that Apple's other Steve would send him an iPhone special if he asked. If Wozniak pulls these stunts to prove that even he is willing to wait for the iPhone, then it's a cheap PR move at best.
If he's trying to show that he's still one of the geeks who is willing to camp out for the hottest gadgets, he shouldn't bother if he's only going to demand perks.
What I do know is that Wozniak enjoys a positive public image in Silicon Valley. He's seen as the approachable and humble genius, which contrasts nicely with the aloofness of Steve Jobs, Apple's other co-founder and CEO.
Why mess with that?
"I certainly don't mean Woz any ill will," said Doug Broussard. "But his resources and pull in the Valley should be used for more than jumping in line when the new gadgets come out."
Greg Sandoval covers media and digital entertainment for CNET News. He is a former reporter for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. E-mail Greg, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sandoCNET. 
Before you make off-the-cuff, insulting remarks, make a couple of extra keystrokes and look up your target at Wikipedia, i.e., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wozniak#Post-Apple_career. He's still on the payroll... he didn't need to go to the store to get a 3G; he just did. Reason? Probably not anything we can guess.
Second...why work if you have money? Poor people work to be able to live. Are you jealous because he gets to enjoy life instead of constantly working a dead end low paying job just to get the bills paid?
Ok..the burgers need flipped.
Doug and Patrice Broussard instead whine about the experience and you write a lousy article. Get a clue
The day before, I received an email asking me to come to that Valley Fair mall store. My intent had been to wait all night at the Apple store here in Los Gatos, the one I ride my Segway past every week. But I have good relationship with many workers at the Valley Fair store. I always take time to chat with them and even share small gifts that I have. Not with whoever the managers are, but rather the floor staff.
I told them I would come at 10 AM and get in line and they told me back that the line would be short and they had talked to the people in front and that the people in front WANTED me to go first. I discussed the fact that I'd be with a small group too. The Apple store staff also said that the chairs and table in front of the store would be reserved for me. So sitting in those chairs I was in line. I am thankful for the chairs. I'm actually older than almost everyone in the lines these days.
Some of my group arrived earlier but I arrived at 4 AM. I told the store staff that I was fine with being behind the small assortment of people in line already but they would have none of it. I pressed against this "first" privilege but I give in easily when pressed by others. They assured me that the people in the front of the line had already insisted that I go first. It's like the first people wanted me to go first. That's how I was told it.
Some of the ones in front did come over and chat with me in the early hours and whenever I said that I'd go behind them, they wouldn't hear of it.
This was NOT a case of arriving at the last minute and cutting in line. Were that the case I would have arranged some back-door iPhone. I did stand in the store until 11:15 to get my 2 iPhones, and later that night I got them the way I wanted (numbers) at an AT&T store. We all know how bad the experience was.
As for the nature of people in line, I remember last year's launch. I was in the same privileged chairs all night and online we constantly saw people in line selling their spots. We could even identify which they were. The line is not made entirely of super Apple fans.
My friends are almost all low-level interesting tech enthusiasts and developers. I don't hang with the privileged crowd of CEO's. I chat with everyone everywhere. When people are insisting that I go ahead of them, I'm not strong enough to fight them off. In this case, it was a minor issue.
Beware of the image and headlines from these gadget reporter types. They said I bashed Apple once because I said the price drop of the iPhone was too fast too soon. They hadn't paid attention to the technology news because Steve Jobs had apologized on behalf of Apple and offered $100 compensation (in addition to the $200 you got back from American Express for price protection in such cases). I should have been accused of plagiarism instead of bashing. In a later case, I was accused of bashing Apple because I said that the iPhone should have 3G. A year before Steve Jobs had said that EDGE was a bit slow. I guess they had missed that tech news too. It's easy to write these sort of headlines but you can pull the truth out if you want to.
Hope to encounter you all on the streets!
He's been a member since April 5, 2000.
I looked it up.
Everyone in line was fine with and it was completely planned on the Apple side, including his invitation. He was in store for hours like everyone else trying to get activated - and people chatted him up during that.
In short, the CNET story is wrong.
You are the man. I hope to encounter you around town also. Don't let the hacks get you down.
How crazy is it that someone like you would even have to respond to this? I am impressed that you did though.
It just seems one observer became confused. Steve doesn't have to wait in line, and he wasn't waiting in line, he was hanging out at the mall with friends, and when the store opened, they got their phones.
Look, all you have to do, is invent the Apple II.
Shame on the writer and shame on CNET.
But then again this is Apple we are talking about here. I do like Apple products, but some of their marketing just creates problems when new products come out.
Grow up.
If you're juvenile enough to wait in line for hours or days in some cases to by a phone the rest of us don't want to hear you whine.
If I decide to get one, I'l go next week or next month or maybe six months from now. I won't have to wait in line. I'll pay the same price. And my phone will activated when I buy it.
Didn't keep you from reading the article and the comments and adding your own 2-cents worth of comments. ;-)
You've never stood in line for a movie, or a table at a popular restaurant, or a sporting event? Why's that any different? Give the line-waiters a break instead of slamming them. We all have different values of our time and what's worth doing? Just because you don't think it's worth it, it isn't? Only your opinion counts? A few hours is my limit, days doesn't make sense to me, but I'm not going to call someone names because they have a different set of values.
- by Asianne July 13, 2008 8:03 AM PDT
- Does it really matter? There are so many other reasons he could've been there looking as if he was waiting in line, and besides, it's WOZ! I'd open my spot for the guy anytime. What's even sillier than this article is the notion that you would think fans would turn their heads on him, cutting a line at any popular location is a standard for any VIP.
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