Customers flock to Apple stores nationwide for the iPad's retail debut
By Lynn La
MacworldAPR 3, 2010 10:09 am PDT
A steely day in SF
An hour before the store is set to open, eager customers continue to wait in line for the iPad at San Francisco’s Apple retail store located on Stockton Street.
A new era for newspapers
“USA Today” promotes its iPad app by passing out screen cleaner wipes to passerbys and customers in line.
No reservations
Two lines form for the iPad’s debut—one for people who have already reserved the product online (right), and one for people who did not (left).
Cheers to you
Customers are greeted by the enthusiastic applause of Apple’s retail staff.
Well, that got our attention
Lyle Kahney dons a homemade cardboard iPad suit.
In cases such as these
A box of extra iPad cases awaiting shelving. There was a high demand for the $39 accessory.
You’re a genius
The Genius Bar filled with customers beginning their iPad purchases.
Check it out
Brian Wickham (right), who started waiting in line at 5:30 AM, tries out the iPad on the display floor.
Decisions, decisions
Linda Moore examines the accessories wall for extra iPad products.
School is in session
New iPad owners stay for an in-store tutorial about iPad basics and its functions.
Unload yourself
A customer unpacks his iPad while an Apple employee helps him with the initial registration.
Where do your loyalties lay?
Alaa Ismail plays with an Apple display iPad after purchasing his own. Bottom right, Ismail shows-off a 30-year old picture of him using an Apple ][.
iPad, meet cops
Two police officers stand outside the store to control the line and look for potential disruptions.
Not your mall rats
By 9:00 am, the line at Walden Galleria Mall in Buffalo, NY included several hundred people.
Photo by: Marco Tabini
Pile it on
Stacks of iPads eagerly await a new owner at Buffalo’s Walden Galleria store.
Photo by: Marco Tabini
I’m just glad they had doughnuts
Two lines form early in a mall in Tigard, OR—one for those with reservations and a longer line for those without.
Picture by: Rob Griffiths
What do we have here?
Customers get a preview of the iPad from an Apple worker while waiting in line in Holyoke, MA.
Photo by: Serenity Caldwell
Fiddling your thumbs
A customer in Holyoke, MA tries out an iPad.
Photo by: Serenity Caldwell
Crowd control
Apple fans outside Fifth Avenue in NY were out in full force to wait for their chance to purchase the latest Apple device on its release date.
Photo by: David Dahlquist
First one in and out
Richard Gutjahr, a 37-year-old public television journalist from Munich Germany, was the first customer to enter the NY store, and the first to leave with a new iPad.