No one cares about it as much as the person who’s planning it.
Some folks waited in line for the first iPhone, but not many.
It’s tempting to try to bend the curve and put the ‘grand’ into ‘grand’ opening. But that usually creates disappointment. In any population, only a few folks get satisfaction out of going first.
The focused work of launch day, then, isn’t to maximize turnout. It’s to get the right people to come.
Not just people who like to go first, but folks who are eager to give you the benefit of the doubt, and those that are focused on spreading the word. Not because it’s good for you, but because it’s good for them.
People like you.
The Newton had a huge launch day, one of the most successful consumer electronic devices of its time. But no one ended up recommending it, so it faded away.
Launch day matters when distribution is scarce. If a movie opens poorly, the theatre puts a different film in next week. But most of the time, planting the right seeds in the right place is more important than hustling for noise.