College student Amanda Foote has turned the die-hard techie tradition of waiting hours, sometimes days, to be the first to purchase a new Apple product into a lucrative odd job. After nearly 41 hours of waiting in line for the iPad 2 release at Apple’s flagship store in New York, she sold her number one spot for $900.
Foote sat through an entire day of rain, had a stranger help himself to a box of doughnuts she was eating, and slept a total of 3 hours and 10 minutes in the time between when she got in line at 5 p.m. Wednesday and when she left it at 9:00 a.m. Friday. She plans to buy tickets to a Lady Gaga concert with the cash that she earned for her trouble.
The buyer, app developer Hazem Sayed, says he is planning on leaving for a business trip Friday evening and wants to have an iPad 2 (which starts at $499) with him.
He’s not alone in paying for the cache of being among the first to purchase apple products. About 30 people back, 20-year-old Mario Longo had been waiting in line since 5 a.m. Friday for a friend who offered to pay him $100. Craigslist is littered with offers ranging from $100 to $999 to stand in line for a fee or sell a spot.
In June, before the iPhone 4 launch, spots in line to buy the new phone were reportedly going for as much as $1,200.
But the emerging marketplace for line standing hasn’t reduced the enthusiasm of people in line who actually want to buy the device. Behind Foote, standing in the second and third spots, were Brian Ceballo and Joseph Cruz. The high school students, both 17, had been in the line since 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. (Don’t tell their teachers.)
“We like the competition, the atmosphere, meeting people,” Cruz says.
Farther down the line in bright yellow ponchos, Rafael Fischmann and Breno Masi had been waiting since 3:00 a.m. They flew into New York from Brazil specifically to buy iPads, as did Francis Degode from Belgium, who beat them to the line by a few minutes.
The iPad will officially go on sale at Apple stores, Best Buy, Target, and Walmart at 5:00 p.m. Friday. For those who aren’t as enthusiastic about the authentic line experience, online orders are live right now.
Amanda Foote, a media studies student at Manhattan Community college, sold her spot in the line to purchase the iPad 2 for $900
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