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Dev Scores Cheap Publicity by Shelling Out $900 to Skip iPad 2 Line

by Terrence O'Brien on March 11, 2011 at 04:30 PM

Hazem Sayed
We know the Mac faithful can be a little fanatical. But even we were a little shocked by Hazem Sayed, a 53-year-old developer who paid his way to the front of the line at the Apple store on 5th Avenue here in NYC. Sayed strolled up to the front of the line and paid a 20-year-old college student $900 (more than the cost of a top-of-the-line iPad) to give him his spot. That means, depending on which model Sayed springs for, he could be shelling out $1,729 for the luxury of scoring an iPad 2 on day one.

The buy wasn't just about scoring an iPad 2, though. Sayed meant to draw media attention, which (obviously) it did. Intrigued by the man who was willing to pay so much money just to get to the front of the line, reporters began lining up to talk to Sayed, who wasted no time plugging his company, Zami, and its latest app, 'AskLocal.' All things considered, the trick turned out to be a pretty cheap way to draw attention to his business. Getting in front of roughly 150 people waiting on line at the time (it's since swelled to almost 400) was just an added bonus.

It works out pretty well for the kid who camped out at the front of the line since last night too. He got $900 after waiting in line for 41 hours. Essentially, he got paid $22 an hour to sit.

Tags: apple, hazem sayed, hazem sayed ipad 2, HazemSayed, HazemSayedIpad2, ipad, ipad 2, ipad 2 line, Ipad2, Ipad2Line, tabletpcs, top, zami

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