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Panther unleashed into the wild [updated]
October 24, 2003 - 20:40 PDT
Apple on Friday officially launched Mac OS X 10.3 Panther at more than 60 retail stores and numerous Apple authorized resellers nationwide. MacMinute has received reports from several east coast Apple Stores (which re-opened at 8:00 p.m.) that describe extremely large crowds who can't wait to get their hands on the latest operating system. Most of the people we've talked to say tonight's event "dwarfs" last year's Jaguar launch event. All of the Apple Stores tonight are offering a 10 percent discount throughout the store with the purchase of Panther or a Mac. Apple employees are also giving away free dog tags with "X" logos on them to anyone in attendance. Update: We have added several photos and reader updates from various Apple Stores across the country.
Andrew Northern: "To have visited the SoHo Apple Store in Manhattan for the first time on Panther release night was amazing. I was blown away to see a more than block and a half long line when I got there. The atmosphere was charged and people were excited to be there. What an amazing time. I'd like to see community like that around any other piece of software or consumer good."
Witold Riedel: "The line extended well into Greene street. A very long block... It was too dark there to take any serious pictures. Enclosed some impressions of whatever one could see when outside. Very, very many happy people." Riedel sent us this photo of the SoHo store:
MacMinute contributor Scott Sheppard sent us this picture from the Palo Alto Apple Store in Palo Alto, California:
George Napier: "I just got back from the Clarendon Apple Store [Arlington, Virginia]. The line was at least a block long, maybe more. Took us one hour to get to the door. The inside was mobbed. The line to BUY Panther was almost as long as the line outside. When we left at 9:30 the line to get inside was even longer." Napier also sent in a couple of photos (below).
Jack Rowland: "The line for the Panther launch at the International Plaza Apple Store in Tampa, Florida began forming around 6:30 p.m. The doors opened right at 8:00 p.m to cheers an applause from the Apple faithful. Each person who entered the store was greeted with a handshake and a smile from the store staff. I estimate that more than 300 people were in line at 8:00 p.m. With a 10% discount on all hardware and the same discount on everything else in the store if you bought Panther, everything was selling at a brisk pace. I left around 10:15 p.m. and about 100 people were still in line, since the staff was controlling the number of people in the store." Rowland's photos:
Reader Fahim sent us this photos from The Westchester Apple Store in White Plains, New York:
More event photos:
- Photos from Mayfair Apple Store in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
- Photos from Millenia Mall Apple Store in Orlando, Florida
- Photos from UTC Apple Store in San Diego, California
- More Photos from Clarendon Apple Store in Arlington, Virginia
- Photos from Panther launch event in Italy
- Photos from Panther launch in Toronto, Canada
Other reader reaction:
Daniel Jardine: The Willow Bend Apple Store in Plano, TX was swamped. At 7:30 p.m. there were already around 200 people in the line. By 8:00 there were more like 300-400, with mall security having to call in additional crowd barriers. Those of us who arrived at 7:30 didn't get into the store until 8:30, and when I left at 9:00 there were at least 200 people still in line waiting to get in. Almost every person I saw enter the store left with a copy of Panther."
Tim Dohrer: "I arrived at the Woodfield Apple Store (Schaumburg, IL) at 6:15 p.m., thinking I'd be stuck at the end of a long line, just as I was at the Jaguar evening. Instead, I was 30th in line! Even at 8 p.m., the line was 30% of last time. Why the change? Since Jaguar, Chicago has seen two additional Mac store open in the area. The store at Old Orchard in Skokie will open soon and I think we'll see even fewer people at these roll outs as the audience is diffused between more and more stores in the Chicagoland area.
Despite the numbers, people were buying! Lines were long to buy Panther and I was once again amazed at the number of iBooks, PowerBooks, and iMacs that were being brought out from the back to the registers. Lots of iPods and iSights being purchased as well. And plenty of Apple folk around to answer questions.
The demonstration of Panther was great -- short but complete with all the best features. Lots of people hung around to watch. On the way out, everyone got the dog tags -- a unique idea, I guess, but not as much of a freebie compared to the t-shirts and mouse pads of past rollouts."
John Konopka: "I'm not sure how large the crowd was [at Burlingame Apple Store in Burlingame, California]. It stretched around the corner of the building. One interesting thing was that we met several Japanese Apple employees. They were hired in Japan to work at the new store in Ginza and are here in the US for a while for training."
Michael Styne: "We got to the [Crossgates Apple Store in Albany, NY] a little after 8:00 p.m. to find a line stretched several storefronts back. We waited in line with some other eager folk, got our entry blanks for a free Mac and our dog tags. It was probably about a 30 minute wait to get inside."
Nick: "I was at the North Michigan Ave Apple Store (Chicago, IL). The line wasn't all that big at 7:30 but by 8:00 p.m. just before the door opened it was over a block long... it was kinda weird and winding around but it clogged up Michigan Ave for a good distance. I was about the 200th or so person in and there were people waiting to get in behind me. The lines at the check outs were HUGE and i was laughing because most of the 'floor stacks' of 10.3 were nearly empty. Around the theater (which seats about 75 people) it was standing room only. So many people were watching the presentation of 10.3 it was hard to move around on the second floor."
Rob Wood: "I was at the Southdale Apple Store in Edina, MN, and the line ran halfway to the movie theater, and this was at about 8:15 this evening. One can only wonder what the crowd would have been like at the Mall of America had it not been closed for remodeling."
Michael Steiner: "Hard to see, but there were quite a few people here at the 'Night of the Panther' release, at the University Village Apple Store in Seattle, WA. Not like a store opening, but around 7:30 the line went from about 20 people, to...well, I couldn't see that far in the dark."
Updates coming...
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