On Fifth Avenue, no Leopard fans spotted yet
NEW YORK--At about 1 p.m. EDT in midtown Manhattan, I overheard a group of suit-clad thirtysomething men talking as they waited to cross Madison Avenue.
"You know, leopards are solitary animals," one of them said. The other three or four continued musing on the characteristics of the large exotic felines, and I figured that it was actually part of a conversation about Apple's latest operating system, which launches Friday at 6 p.m. I thought, wow, if fratty midtown office types are talking about Mac OS X 10.5, there must be a huge line of fanboys at the Apple store!
Wrong. There was almost no sign of a major product launch at the 24-hour Apple store on Fifth Avenue, besides a few signs and posters announcing Leopard's advent. The store was still a mob scene, of course--in that touristy shopping district just south of Central Park, it always is. But there was no buzz factor like there had been with the crazy iPhone launch in June.
Apple Store customers try out Leopard at the Fifth Avenue store in NYC.
(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET Networks)Apple retail employees told reporters that the store would be closed from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. for preparations, and that when the doors finally opened, there would be "demos all night long."
For an idea of what the scene might be like, they told the press to look up the Japanese launch of Leopard the previous night, which apparently had eager buyers lined up around the block. Then, clearly uncomfortable about saying too much, they said to contact company public-relations representatives instead and encouraged the press to test out the new operating system--it was already installed on all the demo computers at the store.
A few minutes later, reporters were informed that Apple retail employees had just been told not to speak to the press any more, until Leopard's launch at 6 p.m.
Meow.
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline. 
a Mac mini -- the Finder really flies! Time Machine is the easiest
backup I've seen in the past 23 years. The whole system feels a lot
snappier. So far I experienced no problems with any of the existing
software that was previously installed.
By the way,"To dos" now sync to my iPhone.
Leopard last week when it was made public that it would be
released on Friday. Friday morning it was in the mailbox..!! :-)
2) you can order it online right now
3) it'll show up in every new Mac sold from now on.
4) and most importantly - Since Apple doesn't rely on OS
releases for its survival as much as MSFT does, and most of us
with a Mac will eventually get around to it (as opposed to the
"ZOMG shoev it in now now now!") who cares if there was a line
or not?
"Hey, It sucks so much less than the last version of OSX!"
or
"Finally, My Mac actually responds to my typed or clicked commands in under 10.5 seconds!"
A real ringing endorsement there. NOT.
I'm sure all the Mac fanbois who continually take swipes at Vista will make them selves heard. In the meantime, do let me know when they close the gap between OSX0 Leper's installed base & the already 88 million installed versions of Vista.
Call me when they're within 50 million.
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
- full res picture
- by frodave October 27, 2007 8:42 PM PDT
- I'm in that photo... any chance I could get a copy at full resolution?
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