Gadget-seekers determined to be among the first to get their hands on an iPad lined up outside Apple’s flagship store in Manhattan yesterday ahead of the tablet computer’s debut.
About 15 aspiring iPad owners heartened by sunshine and warm spring temperatures had taken up positions outside the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue by 4pm on Friday to wait for sales to commence at 9am the following morning.
Eleven-year-old Giovanna Mullen said she staked out her place outside the store at 5am on Friday with her mother, Jeanney Mullen and her grandfather, Tony Digiorno.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
The girl proudly described herself as the owner of an iPod Touch and said her mother had an iPod and a Macintosh computer, both iconic creations of the California-based computer and electronics giant Apple Inc.
“We brought food, blankets ... so the three generations will say they slept together in the streets of New York,” Digiorno said.
Like others in the line, the trio had not pre-ordered iPads so resorted to hours of waiting to get the gadgets.
Those who ordered iPad devices early should also have received them yesterday.
Demand for iPads has evidently blasted past Apple’s expectations and the online Apple Store alerted buyers that new orders would not be shipped until April 12 or “late April,” depending on the model.
Users can watch video, listen to music, play games, write e-mails, surf the Web or read electronic books on their iPad.
The touchscreen slate-style computer also runs most of the 150,000 applications made for the iPod music player and the iPhone.
The iPad model featuring Wi-Fi wireless connectivity is available in Apple’s US stores and a model offering both Wi-Fi and 3G cellular connectivity will be available late this month.
Apple said both the Wi-Fi and 3G models would be available in other countries later this year.
While Apple has been secretive about iPad supply numbers, analysts estimate the company will sell several hundred thousand of the devices during the weekend and more than 2 million by the end of September.
Software savants who found fortunes crafting mini-programs for iPhone and iPod Touch devices were quick to focus on designing applications for the iPad, essentially a giant iPod Touch.
The enthusiasm of developers bodes well for iPad, since the “ecosystem” of fun, hip or functional programs is credited with being behind Apple mobile gadgets’ success as marketplace stars.
By Friday, iPad programs were filling up virtual shelves of Apple’s online iTunes shop.
Even Internet leader Google threw its weight behind the iPad, rolling out a version of its free Web-based e-mail service for Apple’s latest creation.
“We’re just starting to work through how our products can become even better on devices like the iPad,” Google Mobile product manager Punit Soni said in a blog post.
And while the iPad is seen as a threat to Kindle electronic readers, Amazon.com on Friday released an application that lets people read digital books from the Kindle Store on the Apple gadgets.
The Kindle has dominated the electronic reader market since its launch in late 2007. However, the Amazon.com application will let iPad users buy any of more than 450,000 digital books from the online Kindle Store.
“Kindle for iPad includes all the features customers love about Kindle for iPhone, along with a beautiful new user interface tailored to the look and feel of iPad,” Amazon Kindle director Jay Marine said.
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