Are the iPhone queues for the fans or the publicity?
Summary: Apple launch events have turned into a honeypot for companies looking to get some free publicity, and the Australian launch of the iPhone 5 is no exception. — Spandas Lui — My impression of Apple's product launches …
Context & Ripple Effects
Queue-skepticism around iPhone launches is not new: back in June 2007 Ars Technica documented the sell-out that wasn't, and by that November outlets were telling readers not to believe the hype about launch-day crowds. What changed by 2012 is that the queue stopped being just an Apple asset and became contested ground — Samsung had already demonstrated the play with its ambush of the iPhone 4S launch in Sydney in October 2011, staging rival activity directly outside Apple's event.
Spandas Lui's argument at the Australian iPhone 5 launch extends that logic one step further: the queue itself is now a honeypot that companies exploit for free publicity, meaning the crowd Apple showcases may be partly staffed by brands riding its spotlight. The story travelled unusually far for a launch-color piece — WSJ, Guardian, LA Times, CNET, Mashable and Gizmodo Australia all picked it up on or about September 21, 2012 — which itself illustrates how much attention the launch spectacle commands.
First-order effects
- Companies planting themselves in iPhone 5 launch queues get brand exposure in front of assembled press at zero media cost, while Apple's own launch narrative absorbs the noise.
- Apple's record early sales pace — the iPhone 5 matching online in three days what the iPhone 4S took a month to reach — gives the company a data-backed answer to any suggestion the queues overstate demand.
Second-order effects
- Rivals have a template to copy: Samsung's Sydney ambush showed that hijacking an Apple launch generates headlines without hosting an event, so expect more competitors to treat Apple store lines as advertising real estate.
- Journalists covering future launches face a verification burden — distinguishing genuine buyers from paid stand-ins — pushing coverage toward sales figures and away from crowd shots as proof of demand.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the product launch matures into a two-sided publicity market: Apple supplies the audience, other brands buy visibility inside it, and the authenticity of the crowd becomes a standing editorial question rather than a given.
- Launch-day imagery loses evidentiary value as a demand signal, shifting the burden of proof toward hard numbers like pre-order and first-weekend sales — a structural change in how tech demand gets reported.
The trend: Tech product launches are evolving from fan gatherings into contested publicity venues, where the queue itself is marketing territory that rivals and brands actively work.