Well, it’s a week after launch, and I still can’t get the new 3G iPhone. All of my local stores are sold out, with estimates of several weeks before new shipments arrive. That’s what I get for not camping out in line, but I haven’t pulled one of those all-nighters since queuing up for tickets to the 1985 Springsteen tour.

But it got me thinking, when was last time (or any time, for that matter) that a new A/V product caused that level of consumer frenzy? I’m taking the traditionalist view, so game consoles don’t count. Do you recall any piece of audio or video equipment that was so unique, paradigm-shifting, must-have cool that people were lined up to get them and the manufacturer couldn’t keep them in stock? I’m drawing a blank. It does make me wonder what would happen if the designers and engineers at Apple decided to sink their teeth into a traditional home theater product.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 17th, 2008 at 7:45 am and is filed under Secrets Discussion Topics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.