The Sheep Were Camped Out And Got Their Toy Early This Morning

[Obama 2012 1,714]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/ptech/04/03/apple.ipad.sale/index.html?hpt=T1

A cross between a netbook and a smartphone, the iPad is a lightweight, portable computer with a glass multitouch screen that wirelessly surfs the Web, displays photos and videos, runs apps and plays games and movies, among other potential uses.

"I've been waiting for this form factor for a long time," said computer programmer Robert Wojciechowski, 31, outside the Lenox Square Apple store in Atlanta.

"I think it fills a gap between the desktop, the laptop and the phone," he said. "It's the appliance that I've wanted on my coffee table."

Other buyers said they were excited about the iPad's potential as an electronic reader whose 9-inch color screen will show e-books plus newspaper and magazine articles.

Mary Inman, 58, said she will take the device on vacations to Mexico instead of lugging five or six books. Inman, waiting outside the Lenox Square store, said she grew jealous of her husband and daughter, both of whom own e-readers.

(CNN) -- Thousands of people crowded Apple stores across the United States on Saturday to be among the first to buy the iPad, a tabletlike computer that's Apple's most-awaited product since the first iPhone launched three years ago.

Some buyers said they wanted a lightweight computer they could carry around easily or use from their couch, while others were diehard Apple fans who said they were eager to possess the company's latest gadget -- even if they're not sure what they'll use it for.

"I don't know what it is -- I just think it's going to be something that's really cool," said Mark Bowling outside an Apple store at Lenox Square mall in Atlanta, Georgia. "I can't figure out how to use it if I don't have one."

What's your first impression of the iPad? Tell iReport

Anecdotal reports suggested strong initial consumer interest in the device. At Apple's flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York, hundreds of shoppers -- many of whom had camped out overnight -- were in line when the doors opened at 9 a.m.

Employees at an Apple store at 14th Street and Ninth Avenue in New York City told shoppers they expected to be sold out of iPads by the end of the day, Julio Ortiz-Teissonniere told CNN's iReport.

Lines of more than 100 people also were reported Saturday morning outside Apple stores in Miami, Florida, and Atlanta. Rain failed to keep away a crowd of umbrella-wielding iPad buyers outside an Apple store in Chicago, Illinois.

"I'm really excited. I've been craving this for a long time," said a young man who was the first to buy an iPad at an Apple store in Miami Beach, Florida. The man, who gave his name to Miami's WPLG-TV as Frank Gonzalez, held his iPad box over his head triumphantly as other shoppers cheered.

A self-confessed Apple fanatic, Inman said she already owns two iPods, an iPhone, an iMac, a MacBook and an Apple TV console. "I'm one of those," she said.

Prices for the iPad range from $499 to $829, depending on storage space and whether the device works with a Wi-Fi connection only or with Wi-Fi and AT&T's wireless 3G network.

Wi-Fi-enabled models of the iPad went on sale Saturday morning at Apple's 200-plus retail stores in the United States, at Best Buy stores and through iTunes, Apple's online store. Models that also work over 3G networks will go on sale in late April, Apple has said.

Saturday's launch was in the U.S. only. All models of the iPad will go on sale in late April in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Anticipation for the iPad's release has been building since Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the device in San Francisco, California, in January.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

So what? Why do you care?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Laugh now....the iPad is going to change how most of use a computer as well as read.

The computer mouse will soon be a dinosaur as touch screen computers will be in more demand (who wants to go back to a mouse after using a touch screen?).

Steve Jobs and Apple have pulled off another marketing miracle.

[Christi and Ian 24]

So what? Why do you care?

My thoughts EXACTLY...

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

When I read the title I had this vision of Spooks and Scandal tending to their flocks with giant strap-on dildos. :rofl:

iPad? Great, now we have a giant cell phone, doesn't interest me in the slightest.

[scandal 951]

Laugh now....the iPad is going to change how most of use a computer as well as read.

The computer mouse will soon be a dinosaur as touch screen computers will be in more demand (who wants to go back to a mouse after using a touch screen?).

Steve Jobs and Apple have pulled off another marketing miracle.

I doubt it. I think it will be a niche market device like the Kindle. It's not a game changer.

When I read the title I had this vision of Spooks and Scandal tending to their flocks with giant strap-on dildos. :rofl:

:devil:

[Christi and Ian 24]

If you don't want one, don't buy one.

And don't complain if your notebook gets a virus, or Windows asks you 38 times if you're really, really, really sure you want to open the application you just clicked on, or you have to spend an hour scouring download.com looking for the device driver for your new peripheral, or you have to spend 2 hours downloading patches for the computer you JUST pulled out of the box.

Edited April 3, 2010 by Christi and Ian

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

So all these people never use any site that uses Flash????????

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I doubt it. I think it will be a niche market device like the Kindle. It's not a game changer.

For someone in the market of buying a home computer or laptop that will be mainly used for social networking, surfing on the net, watching video - the iPad makes a lot more sense because of its portability and ease of use.

[Christi and Ian 24]

So all these people never use any site that uses Flash????????

Flash is going to have a limited lifespan...

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I doubt it. I think it will be a niche market device like the Kindle. It's not a game changer.

It could be the beginning of a paradigm shift in the way we 'interface' with our computers. Steven could be right. But.. I don't think this device will be the device that completes the shift. Not supporting Flash on and Internet full of Flash is a fatal flaw, IMO.

Flash is going to have a limited lifespan...

Name one technology that does not have a 'limited lifespan'. Of course Flash will. But Flash is ubiquitous today. We're having this conversation today.

[Christi and Ian 24]

It could be the beginning of a paradigm shift in the way we 'interface' with our computers. Steven could be right. But.. I don't think this device will be the device that completes the shift. Not supporting Flash on and Internet full of Flash is a fatal flaw, IMO.

Name one technology that does not have a 'limited lifespan'. Of course Flash will. But Flash is ubiquitous today. We're having this conversation today.

We're already moving toward HTML5, and if you're building a device for "today" then you're already behind.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

We're already moving toward HTML5, and if you're building a device for "today" then you're already behind.

iPad is not in build phase, it's in prod. It should work for the Internet as it stands today, not the Internet we're moving towards. It doesn't.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Flash is going to have a limited lifespan...

They've been saying that for the last decade....

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

They've been saying that for the last decade....

And it is a meaningless statement. Every technology has a limited lifespan.