Soft sell hard ware

Engadget reports on the new Samsung Experience electronics boutique that just opened in New York City. The peculiar thing is, you can’t buy anything on display there. They figure that any true hardware enthusiast would browse the store and head back home and buy the product online anyway.

They are even showcasing items that aren’t even available in North America, such as the miniscule MP3 players and cellphones with TV tuners that are commonplace in Korea and Japan.

The purpose of the “store” is to whet your appetite, to sell the Samsung brand. They want to show they’re as badass as Sony.

A++ they all say

Silverlotus has been trying to offload a bunch of doodads and gear we have lying around on eBay recently, so I’ve begun to understand the thrill of wheeling and dealing there.. I still don’t understand why people snipe; there isn’t any real reason to since it’s a proxy bid system.

Weird Al Yankovic, in his hilarious song “eBay“, describes its thrift culture phenomenon perfectly as a “worldwide garage sale”. The song is sung to the melody of “I Want It That Way” by the thankfully defunct Backstreet Boys. Speaking of which, I got that single somewhere. Any bidders? 😉