iPad buying experience
Earlier today(Friday May 28) the Apple iPad make its first appearance in Ottawa at our local Apple store. I thought I would blog my experience of buying it. I knew that I would eventually buy an iPad and was tempted to buy it from Apple online store. The fact that they didn’t allow in store pickup tempted me to wait until this morning to buy it. As I was heading to bed last night, I debated as what time I should get up. When I was in the Apple store last week they mentioned that the mall opens at 6:00AM. I awoke a little after 5:00AM and grabbed a travel mug and a couple of Clif bars and headed out the door. I got to the mall a little after 6:00AM and there was short line which continued to grow. As I waiting I noticed that they turn off the white Apple logo at night. Apple’s complementary Wifi made passing the 90 minute go by quickly. The Apple staff handed out free water and the folks at Starbucks handed out muffins. The planned store opening was 8:30 AM, which is an hour earlier than normal. Our store decided to buck the trend and open at 7:30 AM. At 6:45 AM the blue-shirted Apple staff started to work the crowd to see which of the six models that people wanted to buy. You were given a business card listing which model you were buying in addition to any accessories. The next part I found fascinating. From the internet and Youtube I had seen and heard about the Apple cheers and hype at product launches but seeing it first hand was exciting. They ran down the line and gave everybody High-fives and made multiple passes. It’s not long before you have a sore hand. It was fun. A little after 7:00 AM the white Apple logo was turned and we must be getting close. At this point you could feel the electricity in the crowd. The Apple employees had there “raw-raw” inside the store and then it was time to wait a little while longer. There were TV cameras and reporters capturing the happends. The first person in line had been there since midnight. At 7:30 the first wave was allowed in the store. Each customer was given his own personal shopper who assembled the order. Along the way there were multiple handshakes and backslapping. I grabbed my iPad and headed back for a late breakfast before starting my daily bike commute into the office. I couldn’t resist cracking the package and having a look. Very quickly, I had synced up my mail and calendar and new that the fun of the new toy would have to wait until the end of the day.
