Tag Archives: launch

Live from Saddle Creek…

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11:30 CST – A ground level reconnaissance pass reveals approximately 20 holding a place in line. Holding fast on the plan to arrive at 2:00 for my own spot. Regular updates will follow.

2:15 – it’s a line, but not the worst I’ve seen for a product launch. Lots of milling around for the next few hours. Check back!

2:25 – Thanks for the free Starbucks, Apple. Well played.

2:36 – according to the nice Apple store guy who just came by, I’m #74 in line. It’s a pretty stringy line, but very surprised I’m under the 100 mark.

3:35 – Hour and a half to go! It’s, ah, warmed up out here quite a bit. And concrete is not comfortable for sitting. You’d think that’s something I’d remember from year to year. Fortunately there are two very attractive, yet sadly very married, young ladies in line in front of me for good conversation. It doesn’t make the concrete any softer, but it certainly passes the time.

4:20 – Quite a line behind me at this point. Actually more of a clump.

4:40 – counting down now. 20 minutes till go time. Reports from the east coast sound positive for the device and a quick sales process.

4:50 – Obligatory cheering Apple employees.

5:00 – open for business!

5:10 – official ticket passing out. Size not specified, but guaranteed not to be out of stock completely. This is a good, good thing.

5:15 – made it to the velvet rope. I feel very VIP.

5:20 – front of the line. Check back for the unboxing results.

Stand to the right…

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Since there were no pre-orders or reservations for the iPad 2, there’s really no difference between standing on the right or left this time around. All the early adopters and true believers are going to be lumped together with the casual buyers tomorrow. Probably a good move if your goal is to generate nice lines at 5:00 in time zones across America… conveniently scheduled to coincide with the evening local and network news cycles. Needless publicity stunt or not, I’ll be there tomorrow – in one of those rare moments when my desire for new and shiny overcomes my natural aversion to large groups of people.

I’ve got my product all picked out – 16GB, wifi, 3G over AT&T (seriously, they’re good for data… actual phone calls, of course, still suck). A spur of the moment panic about “what if” storage needs could bump that up to 32GB at the moment of truth, though. I mean who wants to be caught without enough storage for a crapload of TV episodes, songs, and apps, and the occasional movie, right? Although the new ability to stream media around the house may make the larger sizes redundant for all but the most serious power users.

Hopefully by this time tomorrow I’ll be home fondling my newest piece of kit. If you want the scoop, check back here in around 2:00 CST tomorrow when I’ll be blogging live and in person from the Apple Store in Memphis. Geeky? You bet. Fortunately, I’m pretty OK with that. See you in line!