A few days before the Friday launch of the iPhone X, there’s a line outside the Apple Store in Sydney. And this one might be the worst one yet, but not for the reasons you might think.
Passed onto us by former Gizmodo editor and perennial iPhone line snooper Luke Hopewell, the photo above shows the very Aussie tradition in action of marking your spot in line with a shitty $5 Kmart camping chair, but there’s more to this story.
The person at the start of the line is someone called Dave Lee, and he wants to get famous.
The Sydney iPhone X line wants to ‘make iPhone great again’.
Okay. pic.twitter.com/kOdy1sayT6
— Luke Hopewell ⚡️ (@lukehopewell) October 29, 2017
Dave Lee, apparent YouTuber and creator of videos like JEW Asks Americans About ISLAM and Which ASIAN GIRLS Are The MOST BEAUTIFUL — and a whole bunch of uncomfortably racially themed videos, actually — has put together a Facebook group called WE ARE MAKING iPHONE GREAT AGAIN. At the moment, it has 33 members.
In the group’s description, Lee sets out what he sees as some ground rules for the uncomfortable line-up of cheap woven plastic and painted aluminium outside the Apple Store, which he wants to be the start of “the worlds longest line” (sic) over the next few days before the iPhone X’s Friday morning launch. He wants to make iPhone great again, you see.
As first in the line, Lee will police it: “Your position is safe, we will work together to secure everyone’s position in the line. Whenever you pass by to check the seats, please take a photo or video of the line so everyone has live updates of the line.”
Oh, and there are regulations to follow if you want to… stand outside a store for a week next to complete strangers in a construction zone: “Everyone in the line is expected to check the line and post a picture or video daily or your position will be replaced by the person behind.”
This is just embarrassing.
Since he got to the start of the dozen-person line six days ago, Lee has made six videos about his experience — one of which is a “Homeless Social Experiment”. His 17,000 subscribers have delivered Lee around 5500 views on his videos, more than half of which come from his first upload. Others, like “iPHONE X APPLE STORE SABOTAGE”, have been somewhat less successful.
He’s also promoting his “FREE E-BOOK DOWNLOAD” called 8 Powerful Laws To Build Courage In The Face Of Adversity in the description of his YouTube videos, and his Instagram account (currently at 288 followers). And his Snapchat account.
It’s not unusual for whoever’s sitting at the start of an iPhone line to tout their own website or to promote a company, but this is verging on ridiculous.
But don’t worry or be cynical about any potential shameless attention seeking going on, because as Dave tells us in his Facebook group: “remember this is a team effort !!!!!!!
“Yayyyyyyy :)”
This is the worst iPhone line ever.
By the way, this begs the usual question we ask at this time of year — it looks like nobody was even there when the photo was taken. What’s to stop someone coming and stealing all the chairs, or just standing at the front of the queue and claiming it as their spot? Literally nothing, that’s what.
Back in my day, we lined up for two weeks and didn’t leave but for the occasional bathroom break. And we donated to charity. Weak, Dave. [Twitter]