Dangerous Stampede for $50 iBooks in Henrico Co, VA--23 Photos

1000 iBooks went on sale yesterday morning at the Richmond International Raceway for only $50 each as the precedent setting, 4-yr old laptop program junior high schoolers switched to Dell laptops. While only Henrico County residents qualified to buy them, the iBooks were in such demand that 5,000 to 12,000 people showed up as early as 1:30 a.m. to buy them. When the gate opened early at 7 a.m., an ugly stampede occurred injuring a number of people. See this Richmond Times-Dispatch article for 23 photos of the stampede.

Apparently, the questionable wisdom of some in Henrico County was confirmed three times over by: 1) choosing Dells with Windows over iBooks with Mac OS X for junior high schoolers; 2) selling the used iBooks for only $50 when they obviously could have made much more; and 3) providing no semblence of crowd control for the sale. It is captured well in this statement by Paul Proto, Henrico County General Services Director, quoted by AP, "But I think that people tend to get caught up in the excitement of the event - it almost has an entertainment value." [Bill Fox & Dana Baggett]