The New iPad (not the iPad 3 or the iPad HD – so guess I’ll call it the New iPad) was announced previously and released to consumers last week. In a previous article I wrote about my indecisiveness regarding an upgrade to the New iPad (see related article). I continued to be ambivalent. I did not place a pre-order. My plan was to wait and see – see how others like the New iPad – see what reviewers had to say. Good plan. Logical thinking and all that.
On the day of the New iPad’s release I was up early to do my pre-China trip workout at a local high school football stadium (I’ll write more about that in a future article). I finished up about 7:45 AM and thought – well I’ll just drive by the good old local Apple Store ( I am one of those fortunate – or unfortunate? – enough to have an Apple Store in the neighborhood). Thought I would see how many people were camped out – how long the lines were – you know the routine. So I pulled into the parking lot. What do I see? Well there were 3 policemen for crowd control. There about 6 Apple employees in their tidy blue shirts to deal with customers and keep them in line and orderly. Apple had planned well. They even had a table with coffee and donuts for customers. The coffee and donuts were “free” – which as I have mentioned before on numerous occasions – is one of my most favorite words. So clearly the Apple Store was prepared for the crowd. The only thing missing was – wait for it – the crowd.
I arrived at Apple promptly at 8:05 AM, five minutes after the store had opened. By then Apple had already let customers into the store with each being assigned to a sales person. So the store was certainly “active.” But outside the store there was perhaps a total of twelve people waiting! So……………impulse got the better of me and I jumped in line! (After all, the coffee and donuts were FREE!) A friendly sales person asked what type of iPad I would be purchasing. My usually frugal self heard my totally un-frugal impulse blurting out ” 64 gig, white, Verizon.” Really – like those words blasted out of my mouth on some type of auto pilot – I have no idea where they came from. It was maybe some type of out-of-body experience?
Bottom line – I was in and out of the Apple Store by 8:30 AM with my New iPad. I talked with various staff while I was there. Their general consensus was that a huge number of people had done a New iPad pre-order on line – to the point that the pre-orders for the day of release had “sold out.” But, as a result – the “front door of the Apple Store” demand had lessened. Later in the day I was told the same thing by sales staff at Best Buy. Works for me!
So now I have a New iPad. My hope is that it will be a great companion and tool for travel and writing. Time will tell. I’ll be sharing my experience and impressions in future articles.
Springtime is Great!…… Enjoy The Adventure!
Dr.B, The Photo Trekker
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