Lining up for the iPad 2 at Yorkdale Mall in Toronto (Part 2)
Sunday, March 27, 2011 at 8:08 PM in iPad obsessed This is Part 2 of my iPad Lineup report: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3.
As I mentioned in my previous post, we were pretty surprised that Yorkdale Mall would make people stand in line for ELEVEN HOURS without being permitted to sit.
One of the Apple employees said that they would try talking to Yorkdale management about letting us sit, but warned us not to count on anything.
I was tweeting about the whole thing from @iPadGirl on Twitter, of course, and here are a couple of comments that came back:
Meanwhile, Reid and I got a surprise visit from Jeff, Ruth and my nieces! They were very careful not to cross the barrier strip lest people think they were line-jumping.
One of the things I enjoyed most about lining up that day was meeting some of the other people in line.
As I mentioned in my previous post, after all, it takes a certain amount of craziness (unless someone's paying you) to be in the line in the first place. Enjoyed meeting Matthew Slutzky, for example (see right), co-founder of Buzz Buzz Home. He had his laptop and iPhone with him, and created a new Foursquare venue for the iPad line-up.
Conversation was also fun. iPad launch news from other parts of Toronto would ripple up and down the line. The Eaton's Centre line got ejected because they broke the rules! But now they're back again! Some guy in the Eaton's Center line had stayed there overnight!
Whether true or not, these rumors were fun to pass along. Our group got all excited when one of us spotted someone further back who ALREADY HAD AN iPAD 2!!
I immediately had to go over and check it out; the fellow obligingly let me touch his red magnetic cover as well as posing for the photo above. He was in the line to support his friend who DIDN'T have an iPad 2 yet.
A member of our line group, Stephanie, wasn't going to get an iPad 2 herself either. She was there "as moral support" for her boyfriend:
We exchanged iPad stories, compared Apple accessories & gear:
Above: this cool iPad case & iPhone case were bought in Hong Kong!
Meanwhile, I was getting tweets from others around the world who were also in line for the iPad 2 or had just gotten their iPads, like @developit in Australia:
She also posted pics from some of her line-ups.
My friend Steve was in a line-up in Germany when he posted the following:
Awwww...
Then around noon, BIG NEWS. The security guard announced that "your message has been received" and that Yorkdale Mall had changed its mind about us being permitted to sit.
In fact, they were going to bring us chairs! These would be given out while supplies lasted, starting with the front of the line:
Yaaaaaaaaaaay! My guess is that the Apple store employees managed to convince Yorkdale management after all. Kudos to Apple for helping us out, and kudos to Yorkdale for listening to them. And thanks to all those who tweeted their support!
Anyway, there was much cheering and clapping. :-) And CHAIRS!
Speaking of Apple, I thought it was great how often they came out to update us, answer questions, generally let us know what was going to be happening. And they partnered with Second Cup to provide free coffee:
Meanwhile, excitement was continuing to gradually build as the line grew longer and the launch time neared:
And then we noticed that the Apple employees were starting to shut down the store in preparation for the Big Launch:
Wahoo! And someone was coming around to find out in advance what type of iPads we wanted. Each person was allowed to purchase up to two. I was buying for Jeff and me. Reid was buying for himself and (ironically) the friend who mocked us for standing in line.
I asked for two black 64 GB Wifi-only iPads. Here's my ticket:
...and my line group with their tickets:
Continued in Part 3.
My 3-part iPad Lineup report: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3.
I blog about the iPad, e-books and digital publishing, children's e-book apps and apps for creative people at iPadGirl and I tweet from @iPadGirl. You can find out more about my other projects at DebbieOhi.com.
Reader Comments (3)
Hey, I'M the guy that mocked you! But that doesn't mean I've very thankful to Reid for letting me "use" his other "half" of his iPad 2 purchasing power. It was totally a last minute decision for me, prompted by Reid's email asking us if anyone wanted an iPad 2. You know me Deb, if I was set on getting one earlier than 1pm (when I decided), I would have been right in line with the rest of you insane people. :)
"Frank"
"But that doesn't mean I've very thankful"
should be
"But that doesn't mean I'M NOT very thankful"
"Frank"
(who has fat fingers)
Sounds like a great experience... there are some lines that are important, such as Harry Potter at midnight and this. I'm saving for an iPad and understand the 3 is coming out in September... Hopefully I'll be in line then. Thanks for the great post!