Unboxing meets Pinterest meets the iPad

With the launch of every Apple product comes the excitement and drama of the unboxing. It's like waking up on Christmas morning and ripping, carefully, the wrapping off presents and reverently exploring the contents, documenting every step in the process with a video or still camera to share the experience with the world via social networks.

Today, fresh from taking receipt of their new iPads, regular users and professional reviewers across America, and other parts of the world, shared their unboxing experiences. The new, fastest-growing network Pinterest (see Sree Sreenivasan's take on the service), has become a home to unboxers, who "pin" their unboxings to "boards."

The unboxings are like the unveiling, or undressing, of sacred objects, and they are destined to become an art form. Well, perhaps not. The iPad unboxings begin with an examination of the white box, detailing its serial numbers, bar codes, logos, and drawings, before peeling off the plastic from the device and illuminating its features and the other contents included in the box.

Unboxing won't supplant foodspotting, planking, or other activities shared online, but the term "unboxing" will enter respected dictionaries in the very near future.

For a taste of the art of unboxing, check out the videos below. The first is four minutes of unbridled unboxing from reviewers in Vietnam, which started selling iPads ahead of the U.S. The unboxing has received nearly 900,000 views to date. The second is CNET's shorter, less ornate unboxing.