Eager shoppers line up at Eaton Centre for iPad
May 28, 2010 Emily Mathieu
Vendors applaud the first customers who bought an iPad as others queue up at the Apple store in Paris. (May 28, 2010)
The carefully orchestrated launch of the iPad turned raucous this morning when 50 screaming, clapping and running Apple employees exploded from a small hallway beside the Eaton’s Centre Apple store.
They chugged down the line high-fiving the 150 people waiting for the store to open. Another Apple employee ran alongside, filming the scene.
Earlier, grinning Apple employees in blue shirts handed out free coffee and doughnuts, a little impeded by the media throng jostling around each new recipient of the quick breakfast.
Delaan Ruban, 18, had arrived at 7 p.m. Thursday.
“I figured 7 would be my safest bet to get my hands on the model I wanted,” said Ruban, who intends to snag a 64G 3G model. “Little did I know I would be first.”
Ruban and seven others who arrived Thursday night got pushed outside the mall at 2 a.m. by security and weren’t brought back inside until 5 a.m.
“I wouldn’t say I need it, but I really, really want it.”
Black curtains shrouded the store before the opening. The iPad was supposed to go on sale in Canada in April, but voracious demand in the U.S. after its April 3 launched sucked up supply.
Two entrepreneurs capitalized on the captive audience of iPad enthusiasts.
Rob Maran, 42, was showing off his mobile applications. Maran and his wife made a living developing apps, among them a cocktail mixing primer and a wine-buying guide. He bought his iPad in Buffalo two months ago so they could adapt their creations for the Canadian market.
Also walking the line was Kale Fair, carrying an iPad covered in a thin plastic skin. Fair is director of operations for GelaSkins, a mall store than sells protective covers for mobile devices and laptops.
“I thought it was a pretty good opportunity for a captive audience,” he said, offering free skins to the first 50 iPad users who show up at his store.
About 10 deep in the line were Nicholle Cullen and Duane Logan. A new correspondent student in computer science at Athabasca University, Logan plans to use his 32G iPad to store most of his books and course material.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a need. It’s a want,” said Logan. The iPad is his first big luxury purchase in several years, he said.
Most of the early morning lineup were young men, with the ones in the front staking out their turf in lawn chairs. A few men in business suits and young women leaned on railings or sat on the floor, drinking coffee. Food bags sat by their sides.
Three security guards kept an eye on them.
Starting in Japan and Australia, lines formed early at Apple stores around the world to buy the tablet PC that can be used to surf the Web, watch movies, play games and read electronic books.
The iPad is also on sale for the first time today in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Britain.
The Eaton Centre Apple store is one of five across the GTA that is opening early for the iPad launch. Stores were also scheduled to open in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Quebec at 8 a.m. local time.
The iPad will also be available at Future Shop and Best Buy stores and at select authorized dealers, a spokesperson confirmed.
Best Buy spokesman Patrick Lavoie said the store will carry all six models, priced the same as at Apple stores. But doors will open at regular times.
“What we advise our customer to do is arrive early because we think there will be long lines to get the iPad,” said Lavoie.
In Canada, the Wi-Fi-only version will set customers back $549 (16GB), $649 (32GB) and $749 (64GB). If users want both Wi-Fi and 3G networks, the iPad will retail for $679, $779 and $879. Rogers Communications and Bell Canada both support the device.
The iPad sold about 300,000 on April 3, its first day in the U.S. and more than 1 million in less than 30 days.
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