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SAN FRANCISCO – Twenty minutes before doors would open for the Mac OS X Tiger launch party, more than 100 people lined the sidewalk outside the downtown San Francisco Apple store. At least 17 of them sported white iPod earbuds.
For the Mac community, a product launch like this one is a seriously big deal, no matter where you are in the world: On Friday, April 29, more than 1,000 people queued up for the Tiger launch in both the Tokyo and London Apple stores. And while nowhere near that many showed up at Apple's flagship downtown San Francisco outlet – probably because the Bay Area has 11 stores – company employees and customers were eager for the event.
"It should just be another classic example of how excited our partners and customers are about our products," said Frank Casanova, senior director for Mac OS X audio and video technologies, 30 minutes before the event began. "I'm like a little kid. This has been a long run for us … and this is it. This is our coming-out party." (Find photos of the San Francisco Tiger launch.)
Of course, big crowds for Apple product launches are not unusual. Hundreds of people flocked to the company's dozens of retail outlets for the last OS X update launch in 2003, and similar numbers were on hand when the company unveiled the iPod shuffle during MacWorld in January. And given Mac fans' fervor for the operating system and for Apple in general, it should come as no surprise that so many of them were determined to be among the very first to get their hands on one of the company's new products.
Tiger is drawing rave reviews for an innovative set of more than 200 new features, including Spotlight, a desktop search application; Dashboard, a set of pop-up reference tools; and new RSS support in the OS X browser, Safari.
"Usually, as soon as something comes out, I want to get it, to try it out and to talk about it at work with my friends," said Mario Ortiz, a San Francisco graphic designer who was first in line for the San Francisco Tiger launch. "(My co-workers will) know what kind of Mac dork I am, but it's worth it."
Further back in the line, which topped off at around 200 people, San Francisco pilot Sal Prabu gushed over Apple, wooed by the company's advertising for the $130 Tiger.
"They call it, 'Unleash the Tiger,'" said Prabu. "I mean, come on. Who doesn't want to meet the Tiger?"
The line started forming around 4:30 p.m., fully 90 minutes before the curtain was pulled back on Tiger.
"It's a huge long line, but I can understand why," said Justin Elliott, a high school student from San Leandro, California. "I think it's really impressive that so many people took time out to come and buy this new operating system."
At 5:00, employees closed the store for an hour of setup. They sprang into action, slapping Tiger signs on display tables, ripping down a giant banner from the wall and replacing it with a new one trumpeting Tiger in about two minutes. The two-story store was charged with anticipation. Some employees hurriedly loaded their staff badges with business cards, while others installed a maze of rope to feed customers through to the register.
At 6 o'clock, the doors swung open and customers flooded in past a receiving line of cheering employees. They quickly fanned out to all corners of the store, past rolling carts jammed with silver and black Tiger boxes emblazoned with a giant "X" that calls to mind the film, Men in Black.
Almost immediately, a standing-room crowd of about 100 filled the store's upstairs theater for a big-screen Tiger presentation by Casanova. Dozens stood in line to buy the new operating system and others played with the new operating system at banks of computers.
Only the kids' section was quiet. There, a lone man sat on a cushion playing a Harry Potter game on a gleaming white iMac.
Even 40 minutes after the doors opened, the queue to get in still snaked about a third of the way up the street, but by then a steady stream of people was pouring out of the store, Tiger in hand, exhausted smiles on their faces. The line lasted until 7:15.
Across Stockton Street from the store, a couple of German tourists watched the excitement, bemused.
"They are fans, and they want to be the first to get the new system," said a smiling Alexander Schmidt, one of the tourists. "I wouldn't line up. I would wait until tomorrow, or order it by mail."
