iPad

Updated 4:21 p.m. PDT Sunday. Readers have contacted me contradicting the idea that Woz got his iPad early. A student from Cupertino with the Twitter handle PyRo1509 tweeted: "I was with Woz all night. He didn't cut in line and he got his Ipad's the same time as Me. 2hr start NO, already had a 3G." All night? Goodness.

It seems that Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak may have jumped an Apple product launch line in a new and most spectacular way Saturday.

I wondered just the other day whether Woz, who had already declared that he had ordered … Read more

If early sales estimates are any indicator, Apple appears to have another hit on its hands with the iPad.

Including presales, Apple sold 600,000 to 700,000 of the new tablet on Saturday, according to estimates released by Piper Jaffray senior analyst Gene Munster. That is more than double his earlier prediction of 200,000 to 300,000 first-day sales. At least 730 people lined up Saturday at Apple's flagship Fifth Avenue store in New York City--more than the number who showed up for the iPhone or iPhone 3GS launches, he said.

By comparison, Apple sold around a half-million iPhones … Read more

In the San Diego area, Saturday's launch of the iPad at the Apple Store and at a nearby Best Buy could not have been more different.

At mid-morning, the Apple Store in Carlsbad, Calif., was well-stocked with iPads and adorned by lines long enough to snake around the corner of the store into the back parking lot. And the mood was upbeat with the now-familiar applause when a customer emerged with an iPad in hand.

At a nearby Best Buy in Encinitas, Calif.--about a half-mile away--the mood was decidedly different.

With only a handful of customers waiting for … Read more

I was first in the iPad line at the Best Buy in Marin City, Calif., on Saturday.

Oh, I wasn't looking to buy one. Only people with certain imbalances buy the first iteration of Apple products. But the Best Buy is right next to my Starbucks and I really needed coffee.

When say I was first in line, may I add that this was 8:57 a.m., and I was the line. I stood outside what seemed an utterly deserted place for a minute before the doors parted very slightly and a man in a heavy coat came … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--The iPad looks to be a well-received device, if the lines at Apple stores on Saturday are any indication. Hundreds lined up in New York City and San Francisco stores early Saturday morning.

But unlike in the case of past Apple launch events for the iPhone, it wasn't quite the frenzy we're used to. Although there were video cameras galore, reporters aplenty, and a palpable buzz, the launch didn't generate the near-hysteria that surrounded the first iPhone, or even the iPhone 3G. It was, however, clear that many people who choose to stand in line have done this before.

You can tell by the way they pose with the iPad upon exiting the store, wear slogans on their shirts that promote their game company or their friend's new app, or linger after they emerge from the store for interviews, which plenty of outlets--CNET included!--were happy to oblige. There is now, it seems, such a thing as a veteran Apple line waiter.

That doesn't mean they're not enthusiastic or excited about the iPad, quite the opposite. But those who stood in line Saturday morning didn't have to do that: Apple introduced the option last month to have the iPad shipped directly to your home starting Saturday--for free. So the people who showed up did so because "FedEx is for the weak," as one man joked, or because they have fun standing in line with fellow Apple fans, or because they know they can get on camera--or mentioned in a blog.

There are now the usual suspects who come out for high-profile Apple product launches, which stretch back to the original iPhone in June 2007. Greg Packer, who camped out for four days in front of the New York City Fifth Avenue Apple Store for the iPad is a well-known "line sitter," who spends time appearing first at public events in hopes he will be interviewed.

Among those who queued up at the Palo Alto Apple Store was technology blogger Robert Scoble. Scoble camped out overnight to ensure he was the first to walk in and out of the store with an iPad in hand, waiting almost 24 hours. He's also a veteran of iPhone launches past. In return for his patience, Scoble was rewarded with interviews from a slew of media outlets and featured in the all-important "first person walking out of the store with an iPad" shot that will no doubt be on the front of newspapers come Sunday morning--and here at CNET and other blogs on Saturday.

In San Francisco, Dale Larson, who's been at every iPhone launch wasn't first in line for a change and didn't bring a tent (his new fiancee put the kibosh on that). But he had a chair and was wearing a suit, same as in years past.

Emerging from the store early on clutching an iPad was sure to get the flashbulbs popping at you. Some enterprising young men came out, unboxed their iPads immediately and began doing demonstrations for the crowd of cameras.… Read more

Editors' Take: Netflix came out of the gate quick by offering a free app for the iPad at the device launch. We were able to download the app from iTunes and give it a test drive, and the initial results are very promising

Launching the app takes you to what looks almost exactly like the Netflix Web site. You sign in with your username and password just as you would when using Netflix on a PC, no device authorization required. You can sign out of the site just as easily if you are sharing or borrowing an iPad.

All the … Read more

Ignore what I said previously about consumers not buying tablets. As a consumer focus group of one, I have reversed that position and am picking up my preordered iPad today.

My excuse? I'm a tech writer; I need to understand this stuff. Press me further, and I'll say that with Evernote on the iPad (the app was just updated for the platform), I should be able to take notes on this device in meetings in a way that's less disruptive than opening up a laptop and typing on it.

The real reason? I couldn't tell you. … Read more

The reviews are in on Apple's iPad. And starting Saturday, you can actually get your hands on one.

In the days preceding the April 3 launch of the Wi-Fi version of the iPad in the U.S., there hasn't been the same kind of line-waiting frenzy as with past releases of the the iPhone: few are camping out ahead of time.

That's likely because those who wanted to snag an iPad the first day had the option to have it shipped to them--for free. But those who didn't plan ahead, or only recently got the must-buy-it bug, will have to go into an Apple Store or a Best Buy to make their purchase.

CNET's got a team covering the launch: Greg Sandoval in New York City, Erica Ogg and James Martin in San Francisco, and Josh Lowensohn in Palo Alto, Calif. Follow along with our live blog below.

Sandoval, 8:15 a.m. EDT at New York's Fifth Avenue Apple Store: In the final hours before the iPad went on sale, the line out in front of the store saw a little controversy.

Greg Packer, the retired highway worker who says he began waiting in line since Tuesday to ensure he would be first to walk out with the device, learned on Friday that those who had preordered an iPad would be first to enter.

The person who is in position to be allowed into the store first, with less than an hour to go before Apple starts letting people in, is Richard Gutjahr, a blogger from Germany.

Packer says he represents the fans who were willing to wait in line, but that's going to ring hollow to some because Packer, 46, may not be the best representative of Apple's truest fans. He's a well-known "line sitter," who spends much of his time appearing first at public events in hopes he will be interviewed.

… Read more

The largest comic book publisher in the United States has joined forces with the hottest device so far in 2010 to create a seamless comic book reading experience. Marvel on the iPad is slick and sexy, as users have come to expect from high-end apps on Apple devices, but it's not the digital panacea that comic book readers or publishers have hoped for. At least, not yet.

The app opens to a splash page image of some of Marvel's best-known superheroes: Wolverine, Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Woman, and Thor. That's no small irony that Marvel's version … Read more