Insider Chatter by Donna Bogatin

Silicon Valley took to the streets (sidewalks) yesterday, bigtime, to flex its collective muscle, at $106 billion market cap corporation Apple’s retail cash registers.

Is experiential retail the new Woodstock? Are tech writers the new rock stars? Thomas Hawk captured “Peace Scoble Peace.”

Who needs sex, drugs and rock and roll? We’ve got the iPhone, Apple store excitement, AND his lordship Jobs!

Hawk is unabashed in underscoring the life affirming impact of Steve Jobs:

To those who say it was stupid to camp out overnight at the Palo Alto Apple store when I could have gotten it waiting only 4 hours in line at a At&T store somewhere else, you just don’t get it.

Camping out last night at the Palo Alto Apple store was not about an iPhone. It was about an experience. Something that I value far more than my new iPhone. There were many highlights for me.

When we left the Apple store we crossed paths with Jobs. I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t even notice. Kristopher did though and he traded nods and a wink with Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs has been a long-time hero of Kristopher’s. It was an intensely powerful emotional thing for him. One of the best days of his life I’m sure.

Hawk on the Scoble clan mega bonding, thanks to Apple store:

What a great thing for a father to do with his son. Patrick was so proud to be #1 in line. They made a big deal about it when they let him into the store first. That’s a memory that he’ll have the rest of his life. What a great dad to make that happen.

How touching? A multi-billion dollar corporate product push bridging the generations!

The generational cultural memories of prior American decades are undoubedtly not only of more universal import, but less self-focused as well:

Woodstock peace movement,
John F. Kennedy assassination,
First moon landing…

More recent: The anti-Iraq war demonstrations.

BUT, Hawk waxes poetic on the “unreal” sense of community that DID prevail while queing up endlessly for the privilege of a once in a liftetime chance to part with hundreds of dollars to buy a retail product: Playing guitar and sharing stories.

Hawk comes down to earth, though, in describing how he piggy-backed on the Apple financed PR blitz, to develop one of his own:

Zooomr was definitely well represented at the iPhone launch. We handed out tons of stickers. We even used our stickers to mark people’s number in line. We got to personally evangelize Zooomr to so many people, were able to show our Zooomr stickers on CNBC (and get a link to Zooomr on their blog), many press photos and interviews, and getting to upload lots of photos live to Zooomr as we participated in the launch (resulting in some great digg juice).

Apple, then, really is helping the American dream live!

NOT all are convinced. Commenter LayZ at Robert Scoble’s blog:

“Being the first customer into the store was an experience I’ll never forget” “It was surreal.”

You’re kidding, right? An experience you’ll never forget? Surreal? Seriously? Do you know the definition of the word? Please tell me you’re kidding. If walking into a store to buy a cell phone conjured up “fantastic imagery and incongruous juxtaposition of subject matter.” then sleep deprivation got the best of you. Otherwise, seek psychological help immediately!

ALSO: Facebook iPhone Verdict: NOT Buying It and Google Health: Lambast Doctors, Sell Medical Ads

CONTACT DONNA BOGATIN