iPad Equipped Robot Waits in Line for a New iPhone

[dgstorm]

This one is definitely "off topic," but we figured Android fans could get a kick out of it too.

It looks like we have already reached that apex of absurdity for folks who insist on waiting in line for a new iPhone. This situation is very meta, which is what makes it so humorous as well. A woman in Sydney, Australia is waiting in line to buy a new iPhone 6S (or 6S Plus), but she is doing it remotely, using an iPad equipped telepresence robot.

Yep, you read that right. A woman named Lucy Kelly is letting a robotic assistant (which is basically just an iPad on Segway-style wheels) stand in for her to wait in line for a new iPhone. The robot showed up at 5am and is currently fourth-in-line to get a new iPhone.

Kelly is using an app to periodically login and communicate with the actual humans waiting in line, and she is doing it all from the comfort of her home or office. Kelly borrowed the robot from her media agency. She said, "I wanted to be one of the first people to have the iPhone 6S, but obviously because of work I can't spend two days standing in line waiting for a mobile phone. So my boss said 'just take the robot down, you'll still be able to do your work, but you'll still be waiting in line.'"

Supposedly, Kelly claims none of the diehard fans currently waiting in line in the flesh are jealous, desoite the freezing nights. She said, "Everyone thinks it is pretty cool, they were happy to let a robot go ahead."

So, basically we have an iPad waiting in line to buy an iPhone. Yup... I think we just "jumped the shark."

Source: Mashable

 

[johnomaz]

I'm trying to formulate the appropriate words for how stupid this is...but I don't have them. I hope this end for her robot.

 

[Ollie]

Someone needs to walk off with it, place it in a dumpster.

 

[thunderbolt_nick]

Cause, ya know, you are too good to wait in line for your precious iPhone with a rolling red carpet. Send a robot instead.

 

[Ollie]

Cause, ya know, you are too good to wait in line for your precious iPhone with a rolling red carpet. Send a robot instead.

Hipsters. What can you do?

 

[Ricocht77]

First thing i thought of

 

[Narsil]

 

[dezymond]

This is worse than paying someone to stand in line for you and I bet this much more expensive. I find that kind of practice dumb, but it's a "loophole" in the system. Now that it has seemed to have extended to robots...I think apple should refuse to sell her an iPhone

 

[nalgon]

The worst was here in Pasadena, California. Where they had homeless standing in line and didnt even pay them.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Wow. I'm assuming, when the time comes to buy the phone, she'll go there in person? Would be funny if she used the robot to complete the sale as well and the phone just fell off of it or got stolen on its way back to the office.

Pretty cool that her boss let her use such a piece of tech for something so stupid.

 

[Jeffrey]

Maybe it's 2 phones she's looking to buy... She buys one and the robot buys one...lol

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Is there a limit of how many one person can buy at one time? I mean, I've never bought more than one smartphone at a time personally, but if you had 2-3 iphone users in the family, would dad be able to go to the Apple store and camp out and get a new phone for everyone?

 

[Jeffrey]

I believe it's one to a customer...

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Sucks for that poor family then.

 

[Jeffrey]

Guess they would have to bring the family along....