I just had to do it! Go see the ipad2 insanity.

TheForce

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Oct 13, 2003
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Decided to go see how the ipad2 interest was after listening to the news about the lines all across the nation.

I knew I was in trouble when I got stuck in traffic waiting to get into the Town Center's parking area. The traffic reminded me of Black Friday. But, this was Apple Friday. Finally find a parking space and begin the hike to the Apple Store. There were news trucks and photographers all over the place. They had half the sidewalk roped off for those waiting in line to camp out. I started counting people in the line, down the block around the corner and down another block and on and on. People camped out with lawn chairs. Many had ipads and many were selling their original ipad. It was most fascinating to see. Quite a few were buying 2 ipad2's, there to buy for a friend. I stopped counting at 900 people in line and the line went on for a hundred or so more people. Police were there too. It was like a party. Everyone was so excited.
The store was closed and a guy at the front door was telling people they will be open for ipad 2 sales at 5 oclock. Went over to the little park area where more people were waiting, some with their ipads. Two were playing a piano duet on their ipad piano app. I've never seen anything like it except maybe at a church revival meeting when I was a kid.

So I left and figured this was just one store. I went to Best Buy which was a couple miles away and they had a line outside that had about 300 people waiting. There was this BB sales guy barking at the line of people the rules on engagement on how the buying of ipad2's would work. Everyone would remain in single file and there would be no demo to play, just to purchase up to 2 ipads per person. You could also buy accessories for the ipad2 as well. I decided to go in and see what the store looked like and observed there was nothing out for ipad2 at the Apple center. I walked over to play with the Xoom a bit and sales guy came over. I told him I already had an ipad but wanted to get a feel for the Xoom. I said quite a crowd out there. He said yeah, the pallets of ipad2's would be at the front of the store near the registers. Nothing would be on display until after the crowds of buyers end. So, I played with the Xoom for the first time. I saw it had a video editing app too and worked very smooth. At CES They wouldn't let anyone play with the Xoom so this was my real first time to hold one. Basically handled like the ipad in size and weight.
The salesman also told me that Samsung pulled their Galaxy second generation from release as they do not want to go head to head with the ipad2 frenzy. Compared to the ipad1 and the experience I had with the Xoom, the Galaxy Tab was a bit sluggish, but I still thought the size is it's best feature.

OK, so I'm weird to go watch this phenomenon. But it was fascinating watching a bunch of people get so excited over being first to have another new product from Apple. There isn't anything else like it.
 
I went to the Apple Store in Indianapolis and saw 1000+ people waiting in line. I stopped by Best Buys and saw a very long line there as well. Finally stopped at Wal-Mart and asked if they were selling them today. They said yes but not until 5:00PM. They reserved one for me that I picked up shortly after 5:00. I'll be testing it out this weekend.

Mario
 
Mario- Didn't think of Walmart for ipad2 sales. I hate going to Walmart. Their employees are really lowlife's Just be careful. Around here, the employees often steal from the customers as you go through checkout. Especially small items like cosmetics and Vitamins, CD's and DVD's. They scan them on your bill and then not bag the stuff. You need to inventory what's in the bag before you leave the register. I've caught them doing it twice. All I got was an "I'm sorry" as they pull the missing item from below.
 
I don't hit Wal-Mart very often and I've never encountered any products like you describe. I decided to go there because I figured there wouldn't be a lot of people who associate iPad with them. It worked out well. I'm very happy with the device.

Mario
 
Mario- Didn't think of Walmart for ipad2 sales. I hate going to Walmart. Their employees are really lowlife's Just be careful. Around here, the employees often steal from the customers as you go through checkout. Especially small items like cosmetics and Vitamins, CD's and DVD's. They scan them on your bill and then not bag the stuff. You need to inventory what's in the bag before you leave the register. I've caught them doing it twice. All I got was an "I'm sorry" as they pull the missing item from below.

Sorry Don, but not all Walmart associates are lowlife's. You get good and bad people at all places.
 
I don't hit Wal-Mart very often and I've never encountered any products like you describe. I decided to go there because I figured there wouldn't be a lot of people who associate iPad with them. It worked out well. I'm very happy with the device.

Mario

I also know people that walked into Target at 4:55 and were able to get an iPad without having to wait in long lines.
 
I was going to go out to our local Apple Store today, but other stuff happened instead. Part of me doesn't want to touch one because I hear they're addictive. ;) I also hear that the cameras are basically the same ones as the iPod Touch, not the iPhone 4. :( The cameras are meant for video, not stills.

So, maybe I'll make the trip tomorrow.
 
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Boy, this is fast work! Someone has already modded their F-150 dash to fit an iPad 2!

[youtube]6jr3_zLHTbY[/youtube]
 
I should send this to one of my old ad clients in Virginia Beach, GoHo Auto Audio but I'm sure he has already seen it. Thanks for showing that Roland, Those guys are good! I was wondering if Face Time worked in landscape mode, now I know.
 
Three points:

First, he should make it swivel so he can face the screen towards him (a lot easier to see it)

Second, the dude needs to get better taste in music

Third, his buddy did not have to wait in line for 8 hours. He could have gone to a Target or Walmart and probably not waited in line at all. Or could have waited a day or two. It is not that big of a deal
 
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DK- The part you didn't get was they wanted to be FIRST to do what they did and I thought I heard him say he "paid some 'fool' to wait in line to get one"

I agree that angling it would be desirable but not sure how they could accomplish that and still have a nice build in look.




We were out shopping today and I stopped in to the Best Buy where I bought my ipad last year. Spoke to the manager there. He said the Targets and Walmarts all got allocated 5 ipad2's each. Best Buys got 100. Each customer was allowed to buy 2 at the Apple stores and retailers were allocated 1 each. They were sold out in a little over an hour as were every ipad2 retailer in the region. They had a couple of those leather covers left. I tried to buy the HDMI dongle and he said they sold them out right away. They only got 30 in stock.


They still had one on display so I got a chance to play with an ipad2 for awhile. Being the videographer enthusiast, I want to see how the cameras worked. Let's say good enough for webcam use for FaceTime but the lag in the image during motion was not very good. The cameras, even the rear camera that is supposed to be HD quality had lots of motion blur or lag. The ap was very easy to use, however and as I said will be good enough for webcam applications. In other words, don't give up your Canon Powershot or Sony Handycam just yet. ergonomics was as good as ipad1 but I couldn't really feel much difference in the weight and the thickness was not enough to feel different from the ipad1. The real draw of this for ipad1 owners will probably be the speed and ability to run some apps and features that are not available on the older ipad's processor. Image quality and general response seemed similar to the ipad. The other advantage for some will be the built in Verizon 3G capability.

Since I prefer more professional environment to do my video editing, ipad2 just doesn't have any real appeal for me. My ipad1 will remain a consumption device.
Wife's impression was with the FaceTime application. She said she may want to upgrade if she finds many of her clients start requesting ipad FaceTime conferencing. She also liked the presentation capability however, the company requires all those be done in Powerpoint.
 
The one Walmart I went to didn't have any to sell, but then that Walmart probably didn't have the normal clientele to justify it. They only sell ipods. Most of the customers that go there shop with food stamps. I wonder if they have some strategy since they(BestBuy) are supposed to get a shipment every day this week. It was like that last year with the first ipad. I'm thinking that if they sell more in their own stores they will make more money. Mario- do you have an Apple store near by, like within 50 miles? If you don't it might explain why you have more inventory in the independents than we had here.
 

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