$50 iBook stampede!

Remember those old iBooks being sold off by a school district in Virginia for $50 a pop? Well, if not, you should probably consider yourself lucky. Turns out that, despite pleas from local officials to stay away, a mob scene erupted, as roughly 12,000 hopeful customers started showing up as early as 1:30 am for the 7:00 am sale of about 1,000 iBooks. By the time the gates were ready to open, the line was a half-mile long. As it became clear that demand clearly outstripped supply, the crowd went wild, storming the gates and causing a melee. While the stampede isn't the kind of image Apple would want (though, fortunately, no major injuries were reported) it certainly highlights the, er, insanity spirit of Mac loyalists. Try as we might we just can't imagine a similar scene at a sale of four-year-old Dells or HPs.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[Mike S @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

#48, read the first one, he says hes a student that got his ahead of the general sale, on August 10th, not yesterday (16th).

other two probably were some dumbasses.

[Kyle E @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

The Public Schools are a non-profit Organization technically so they can not maximize profit. The students who intially got the laptops had to pay $50 to get them, so thats why they were sold for $50.

[Haz @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

"This iBook was used in Henrico County Public Schools. This iBook has been refurbished and is ready for a new owner. Along with this iBook comes a complimentary charger. I have only turned the iBook on once to see if it worked, and it works 100% greatly!"

- Ebay seller

This guy doesn't really sound all that convincing. 'it works greatly' I wonder if he's a graduate of the Henrico School.

[ODB @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

Billy Billum: I'm trying to say that to assume that the ENTIRE crowd was there to sell laptops on ebay is ignorant. I know several people who were trying to equip thier kids ahead of the new school year.

You judge the intent of the person in the picture by his look. That's comforting. I hope I never have a job interview with an ignoramus like you.

[JL Jones @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

ODB - agreed - If you had a job interview with that person and even though you would have all the qualifications to get the job, if you weren't of the "right" background, they wouldn't hire you.

It is sad to see the comments of some with their postings. I assumed Mac types were more "enlightened" than that...

[Ike @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

A funny take on this train wreck:

http://www.joyoftech.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/720.html

[Tical04 @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

Actually i live in virginia and use to fix those ibooks the people were not mac loyalists at all they were all regular people that wanted/needed a computer and to them a wireless laptop for 50 bucks is the best dell ever.....mostly for kids going to college and for homes with no computer at all and the rest for ebay but seriously you judge the scene all wrong

[Tical04 @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

Also the 50 bucks was for insurance and was part of school fee's every year....also i must say to the first comment they are building new school and remodeling when they can

[Insider @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

Can't they spell eBay at that school district? If they could they would have made $250,000. Independent Sources did the calculations so they don't even have to (assuming they can count). (click on link above for whole story).

[Chris @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

Um, yeah, it might not happen like this with Dells because commoners can afford a dell.

[Insider @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

We calculated the opportunity cost of this to be over $250,000 and this excludes all riot related damages and inevitable legal expenses.

http://independentsources.com/2005/08/17/va-laptop-riot/

[Muncher @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

Now, the other side of the story...

Originally, people formed an orderly line at the gates. When opening time approached some local people crossed the street and crowded in up around the front of the line close to the gates. Police asked everyone to back up and maintain the line. The original people in line listened to the police and backed up the line. The locals who had a plan (according to some interviews) to rush the gate remained bunched up close to the gate and ignored the people obeying the police directions and ignored the police too! The gates were opened and they executed their plan to rush in passed the people who formed a proper line. Some of these people who rushed the gates grabbed an iBook and then went outside and scalped them for $100 - $150. So, it appears that the local neighborhood group formed and executed a plan to make a quick $50 to $100. The cheaters did succeed in stopping other low income people from getting an iBook for themselves or their children. And the irony of it all...the iBooks were supposed to go to Henrico county taxpayers. I'm guessing the cheaters aren't taxpayers.

[Notebook Review Blog @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

stupid people...:p

[Kevin Campbell @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

I was at the ibook sale and in line at 3:45 that morning. Those that assume that everyone in line was black and poor is totally wrong. The line was diverse with many races and many socioeconomic backgrounds. There were Pakistanis, Indians, Germans, Spaniards, White, Latino, and Blacks, who all claimed to live in Henrico. I heard several different languages while in line. The social backgrounds ranged from students to retirees.

The reason this got out of hand was because those who got there late decided they wanted a chance too, and bum-rushed the gate. Those of us who stood in line early that morning stood our ground and did as much as we could to not lose out to the cheaters.

To all of the parents who had children out there from 1:30am - 9am, I dont feel sorry for them. It was ridiculous to have your children wait in a line all night and once you saw the crowd start to get wild, you should have made the decision any prudent parent would have - AND TAKE YOUR KIDS HOME. There were many families with both parents and all their kids there. What, was one laptop not enough where you couldn't send one parent and keep your six month old at home? (by the way that parent was white) People were hoping they could use their kids to get extra laptops.

Human greed and lack of police presence caused this mayhem. Unfortunately that trait crosses all racial barriers. For those that dont believe the racial diversity of the crowd. Look at the pictures. The most popular one shows a Pakistani man out front with an Olympic like, sprint pose.

If any of you have any sociology studies under your belt, you would know that without people following laws, rules, and norms, or if there arent any, or poor enforcement of such, you will have a lack of civilization and sometimes anarchy. That is what happened.

[Ellen Hage @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

There will always be someone out to make a quick profit, but I believe most were in need. So why is MIT developing a $100 laptop for third world countries? This country has people that cannot afford even a $300 Dell desktop. Charity begins here at home. If people here could purchase $100 laptops then maybe Henrico wouldn't have happened