The iPad 2 Launch Day Experiences And Unboxing Video
by Staff Writer
March 12, 2011
After over a week of anticipation, the iPad 2 launched today, March 11th, at 5:00 PM for each time zone in the U.S. We at AppAdvice had a tough decision on what was the best place to get the iPad 2. Tim Chaten was on location at his local Apple Store in Indiana. I was scouring different locations in Los Angeles county.
I didn’t plan on spending my day in line, so I chose a different route. Around 3:00 PM I headed out on an errand, and stopped by the local AT&T and Verizon stores only to find no one there. Since I had time, I made my way over to the Apple Store at around 3:30 PM just to witness the spectacle. There was a line the length of a city block that contained over 1,000 people, and it was truly jaw dropping. One funny thing is there is an AT&T store one block away from that Apple Store, and no one was there just like my local AT&T store.
I got back home and contemplated what my plan of attack would be. Since the Apple Store was out of the question, I called Target and Wal-Mart only to find out they both already had lines, and only had five iPad 2s each in stock. Finally, I decided to go to my local AT&T store, which is about three miles away. I left my house at 4:45 PM, and it only took me five minutes to get there. I proceeded into the store, and asked one of the sales representatives about the availability of the iPad 2. He said that there was only one other person, and I was officially second in line.
They made us wait outside for 10 minutes, and only one other person arrived before 5:00 PM. All three of us were in shock at how few people were here compared to the Apple Store. The reason could be that there were only three iPads in stock, all 3G 16GB versions with two black and one white.
That’s exactly what I was looking for, so it was perfect. I was done with the purchase in a flash, and back home with my iPad at 5:15 PM. It was one of the most painless product launches ever. Granted, I missed out on the event of waiting at the Apple Store, but all I wanted was an iPad 2 today; and I got it as easy as could be.
If you picked up an iPad 2 today, please share your iPad 2 launch experience.
Enjoy our unboxing and hands on of the iPad 2.
