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kman42 · Mar 11, 2011, 06:30 AM

I just ordered mine online a little before 4am. Sadly, it says it ships in 3-5 days via standard shipping. I was hoping for Saturday delivery as they've done for previous offerings

I guess I'll keep my old one a bit longer.

subego · Mar 11, 2011, 07:56 AM

I ordered at about 5 minutes to 1, Pacific.

I have a feeling there may be enough product out there to get one at a brick and mortar place this weekend. I may have to do that and cancel the order.

I was just listening to Gruber get all gushy over it. It's making me extra impatient.

DigitalEl · Mar 11, 2011, 10:18 AM

I also ordered one early Friday (1 a.m. PT), 32 GB in white.

For those of you headed to stores, let's share our experiences.

Called area Target... They have no idea how many or which of the 18 SKUs they're getting. Same for Best Buy. As people get info, add it here and maybe it can help others plan.

We know Apple brick & mortars will have plenty of everything. What I want to know is what mix Target / Best Buy / Walmart / AT&T / Verizon will stock. They only getting 16 GB models, in black? Does each big box just get a handful, or will they have good supply... That sort of thing.

Would love to run to Target and pick one up tonight after work and cancel my online, wait-a-week order.

Share away, (fellow) nerds.

jorgem4 · Mar 11, 2011, 11:03 AM

So... is anyone already tale gating at an Apple Store to buy an iPad ??

I am looking forward to skipping out of work early and heading to my local Apple Store. Didn't order online because i have a bunch of gift certificates to the Apple Store I want to use to buy this thing...

I'm just wondering how terrible is it going to be, although I'm willing to put up with any line, just as ling as I get the model I want (black 64Gb) when is my turn to buy.

Happy iPad 2 shopping !

-Q- · Mar 11, 2011, 11:26 AM

Threads merged as they both deal with iPad 2 ordering.

Have fun you crazy consumers.

ort888 · Mar 11, 2011, 12:27 PM

I'm going to try and get mine from Best Buy.

I went and talked to the Apple guy there last night and he said that they expected quantities in the hundreds, but he couldn't say for sure, and that while he anticipated a lot of demand, he didn't expect big lines, because he just doesn't see them there.

Best Buy is handing out line tickets to people in line at 4:30. Starting actual sales at 5pm.

I'm at work today, going to try and leave at 4:15 to get there at 4:30. If that's not enough to get one, I'll just be patient.

Getting the 32GB Wifi model.

DigitalEl · Mar 11, 2011, 01:01 PM

Made some calls. Target claims they'll have all 18 models. Different answers at Walmart. One will have wi-fi models only, only in black. Another isn't getting any at all. Hit or miss.

ort888 · Mar 11, 2011, 02:57 PM

It looks like Walmarts aren't getting many at all. Reports online are that Walmarts are getting like a dozen iPads total. That might not be case everywhere so who knows. Hopefully this doesn't mean that Best Buy and Target are also getting such small amounts.

Any Best Buy with an actual Apple Zone or whatever they call it will get all of the iPad models. Any Best Buy without a designated Apple Zone will only be getting the WiFi iPads.

subego · Mar 11, 2011, 03:19 PM

I couldn't get jack out of my local Best Buy. He said they'll know more at 4:30.

ort888 · Mar 11, 2011, 04:03 PM

The Apple guy at my Best Buy is really great. He used to work at the CompUSA Apple Store in a Store and now he works at the Best Buy store-in-a-store.

I've known* him for about a decade now and he probably told me stuff he wouldn't tell normal customers.

*By known him, he knows who I am when he sees me and we like to "talk shop" or whatever, I don't actually know him in real life.

AKcrab · Mar 11, 2011, 04:24 PM

Our store is supposed to have 13 for sale. Yes, you read that right: thirteen. Apple hates resellers. We don't even know which models we're getting, but no 3g.

ort888 · Mar 11, 2011, 04:44 PM

Your store is what? A Best Buy?

AKcrab · Mar 11, 2011, 04:48 PM

Apple Specialist. Independent reseller, authorized for iPad sales.

AKcrab · Mar 11, 2011, 04:52 PM

Update! We just found out our shipment got sent to Fairbanks, 360 miles away! We'll have nothing for the onsale!! :-/

The Final Dakar · Mar 11, 2011, 04:54 PM

That's hilarious.

Eug · Mar 11, 2011, 04:59 PM

Originally Posted by AKcrab

Apple Specialist. Independent reseller, authorized for iPad sales.

Do you guys normally sell a lot of iPads?

AKcrab · Mar 11, 2011, 05:12 PM

Yes. Very popular product. We have the "official" demos set up with content, etc.. The 13 iPads we were supposed to get weren't even coming from Apple. They haven't sent us any yet.

ort888 · Mar 11, 2011, 06:03 PM

Ugh. At least 100-120ish in line at my Best Buy. Feeling less hopeful.

Stogieman · Mar 11, 2011, 06:10 PM

Does anyone know if the Apple Stores will be open for extend hours today? I might stop by later tonight after the lines die down.

subego · Mar 11, 2011, 06:37 PM

Checking out my local BB. I'll "livepost".

subego · Mar 11, 2011, 06:54 PM

Gonna pass an AT&T store in a sec, and...

Crickets.

subego · Mar 11, 2011, 07:02 PM

Best Buy was out of tickets. I'd say 60 people in the line.

ort888 · Mar 11, 2011, 07:05 PM

Got my line ticket for a black 32 WiFi.

This best buy must have 300+ judging by the people in front of me and the amount of tickers left.

I hate standing in these lines. Makes me feel like such a consumer whore. And it's only been an hour and 15 minutes so far. I can't imagine camping out. Ugh.

subego · Mar 11, 2011, 07:10 PM

Turns out the AT&T store didn't get any. Probably the cause of the crickets.

Well, I got a hot chocolate out of the deal.

ort888 · Mar 11, 2011, 09:31 PM

Got it. Can't play with it until later tonight though.

heyjp · Mar 11, 2011, 09:46 PM

Stood in line for two hours at our apple store in Broomfield CO. About 150 people in front of me, 150 behind. Door opened at 5. Announced ay 5:05 they were out of all 3G models. Phht.

Only one AT&T store in Colorado had iPads. Just a few 16GB whites.

Closest Best Buy had only 15 total units. 25 person line.

Walmart received none.

Ordered one online: April 6 delivery.

subego · Mar 11, 2011, 10:34 PM

Originally Posted by ort888

Got it. Can't play with it until later tonight though.

Did it actually take 3+ hours?

ort888 · Mar 11, 2011, 11:07 PM

Posting this from my iPad. First time using it.

Here was the deal. I got to best buy at 4 on the dot. The line at that point had roughly 120-150 people in it in front of me. By 4:30 another 100 had shown up behind me. They were supposedly handing out line tickets at 4:30, but no activity was being seen. At about 4:45 a best buy guy finally talked to us and we could see the line ticket guys ahead. Then line of 120ish in front of me had ballooned to about 175-200 at this point as people were coming late and just joining there friends. Annoying.

Anyway, at about 5pm the line ticket guys finally got to me and I got the exact one I wanted. They ran out of both 16 gig wifi models almost right after me though. Wo knows after that.

So far the experience was fairly good overall, but here it gets annoying. We have our line tickets and we start to wait. And wait and wait. They are letting people in 10 at a time and it's taking FOREVER. I don't get into the store until about 6:15.

What happens in the store is that you get sent to a shorter line and one by one a best buy guy comes to you, walks you over to another guy who gets your iPad, and then walks you over to an accessory rack and talks to you about accessories for as long as you will let him, and then they walk you over to a cash register, stand with you holding your iPad and hand it to the cashier. Every single person got this... And get this, they only had 3 people doing it. That was the bottleneck. If not for the upsell and hand holding at the end, the entire line would have been serviced twice as fast.

I didn't walk out of the store until 6:45. Meh, whatever. Still hard to really complain... But I hate waiting in line like a chump. It just annoys me.

I also bought a cool magnet cover, but I may not keep it. It's still in the box. I think I'm going to end up having to buy a more robust case because of my kid. We'll see.

jokell82 · Mar 12, 2011, 12:13 AM

I got to my best buy at 3:30. Only 20 people in line so I stuck around. Only problem I had was that they were limiting to one per person, and I was going to try and buy 3 for my company. Oh well, still got mine (black 64gig AT&T).

DigitalEl · Mar 12, 2011, 12:34 AM

Originally Posted by ort888

What happens in the store is that you get sent to a shorter line and one by one a best buy guy comes to you, walks you over to another guy who gets your iPad, and then walks you over to an accessory rack and talks to you about accessories for as long as you will let him...

So what accessories did they have on Day One? I'll be looking for a cover .. Not the smart case, but one which actually protects the back. I'll probably be waiting awhile.

--

So the Target that told me they were getting "plenty" of all 18 SKUs got just a handful of 16 GB black ones. The Best Buy across the street got 13 and had 13 people waiting in line... All having arrived at 10 a.m.

Looks like I'm waiting until the one I ordered online at 1 a.m. is delivered sometime between 3/18 and 3/25. Could be worse.

Stogieman · Mar 12, 2011, 12:45 AM

I got off work a little late and arrived at my local Apple store at 6:45pm. There was approx. 50 people ahead of me. The Apple employee at the end of the line was handing out tickets for the different models. I grabbed a ticket for the 32GB WiFi model. I only had to wait in line for 15 maybe 20 minutes. They still had plenty of smart covers on the shelves. I picked up a black leather one.

ort888 · Mar 12, 2011, 01:22 AM

I wonder why my best buy had 100s and others had so few.

As for accessories, they had all the Apple stuff, covers, hdmi, docks, and a few 3rd party cases. I didn't pay much attention. They did not have all of the colors of the smart covers though. A bunch were sold out and some never came inn according to the guy.

I think I'm going to return my smart cover. I need something that will protect my iPad from a drop.

subego · Mar 12, 2011, 01:04 PM

Online orders are getting prepped for shipment.

jokell82 · Mar 12, 2011, 06:05 PM

Originally Posted by ort888

I wonder why my best buy had 100s and others had so few.

As for accessories, they had all the Apple stuff, covers, hdmi, docks, and a few 3rd party cases. I didn't pay much attention. They did not have all of the colors of the smart covers though. A bunch were sold out and some never came inn according to the guy.

I think I'm going to return my smart cover. I need something that will protect my iPad from a drop.

My best buy had hundreds too. They also had a ton of covers, but only a few of the hdmi adapters.

I think the smart cover (plus a sleeve for travel) is the perfect way to protect the iPad.

subego · Mar 13, 2011, 12:59 AM

FedEx in Shenzhen has the first batch, though there's an understandable "earthquake exception".

Brien · Mar 13, 2011, 02:36 AM

My experience wasn't as rosy. I got in line around 10AM and there were about 100 people ahead of me (the line was probably 1000 deep by 5PM). I didn't get into the store until about 6-6:15. By that time they'd sold out of everything but a handful of Verizon models.

They had sold out of all 3G models within the first few minutes, and all white models not too long after. I'm reading a lot of similar incidents, which leads me to believe that while part of it is probably due to hoarding/reselling/eBayers/etc., I think that the stores didn't get much. None of the AT&T stores around here got any, and my friend who works at the Irvine store said they got about 800 iPads yesterday, but they only got 10 each of the AT&T models - yikes.

Big Mac · Mar 13, 2011, 03:34 AM

Having 18 different SKUs is a bit of a nightmare sales wise. The fact that they didn't have a combo 3G model that's capable of being compatible with both AT&T and Verizon is yet another tip off that the next iPhone won't have that feature either.

DigitalEl · Mar 13, 2011, 06:59 AM

Just got e-mail notification mine shipped. Should arrive Wed. or Thurs. Still in Shenzen tonight.

Cold Warrior · Mar 13, 2011, 09:58 AM

Originally Posted by Big Mac

Having 18 different SKUs is a bit of a nightmare sales wise. The fact that they didn't have a combo 3G model that's capable of being compatible with both AT&T and Verizon is yet another tip off that the next iPhone won't have that feature either.

Yeah, that's really disappointing. If they were going to unify anywhere, it could've been the iPad with its larger frame, and customers could have simply chosen whichever provider is better for their situation and location. I don't know if Vzw or at&t forced their hand or some other reason.

Brien · Mar 13, 2011, 01:16 PM

Originally Posted by Cold Warrior

Yeah, that's really disappointing. If they were going to unify anywhere, it could've been the iPad with its larger frame, and customers could have simply chosen whichever provider is better for their situation and location. I don't know if Vzw or at&t forced their hand or some other reason.

That's what some people are thinking, actually, is that Verizon forced Apple into making different SKUs (the Qualcomm chip in the VZW iPhone 4 can handle CDMA, GSM, AND wifi) to ensure people who bought a Verizon iPhone/iPad were stuck with it.

subego · Mar 13, 2011, 02:05 PM

Originally Posted by DigitalEl

Just got e-mail notification mine shipped. Should arrive Wed. or Thurs. Still in Shenzen tonight.

You know, the fact people already have it is totally sapping the fun out of these updates.

What good is a tracking number if you can't lord it over people?

Eriamjh · Mar 13, 2011, 02:12 PM

Ordered mine at 10:56AM EDT today. It says it won't ship until Apr 11. The things I do to save money (12 months financing free).

I'll have the cover and the dock before I get the iPad. Weeks before!

Brien · Mar 13, 2011, 02:19 PM

Yeah, could be worse though. I'm thinking that date is going to slip to 6-8 weeks before we're out of this. It's selling like hot cakes.

subego · Mar 13, 2011, 02:22 PM

Originally Posted by Eriamjh

I'll have the cover and the dock before I get the iPad. Weeks before!

Think of it as time in the simulator.

Eriamjh · Mar 15, 2011, 12:20 PM

Originally Posted by subego

Think of it as time in the simulator.

At least I got in before it slipped to 4-5 weeks! Now, I must patiently wait for April 11.

subego · Mar 15, 2011, 06:09 PM

First batch has cleared customs and is (presumably) on its way to its respective destinations.

Brien · Mar 15, 2011, 08:10 PM

I'm diggin' the white border. Don't have an iPad 1 to compare it too, but it's pretty zippy.

DigitalEl · Mar 16, 2011, 02:47 PM

Mine was estimated to arrive Thursday, 3/17.

It's on a Fed-Ex truck right now, showing "out for delivery." One day early.

Shaddim · Mar 18, 2011, 01:51 AM

Got three 64GB AT&T models, two black and one white. Had an inside guy at a local retailer hold them for me and picked them up the evening of the 11th.

subego · Mar 18, 2011, 02:04 AM

Did you get over your original "meh", or is there something compelling about this model?