The iPad 2: I'm in love!

As any reader of my blog knows, I have been impatiently anticipating the day (today!) the iPad 2 would be for sale in Canada. I doubted I would have the chance to buy one since I had to work today and I worried they would sell out before I could get to the store.

As soon as I was off work—5:16 pm—I scurried over to the Apple store in Pacific Center only to find out that the lineup to buy an iPad 2 was around the block! I thought I probably wouldn't be able to get an iPad but I didn't have anything pressing to do today so I thought I'd get in line on the off-chance the one I wanted would be available.

The whole experience, even waiting in line, was very positive thanks to the Apple employees who kept everyone informed about which models had sold out and how things were proceeding. Apple employees came and asked us which iPad 2 we wanted to buy and then told us which models were going to sell out before we reached the store.

It was a cool experience, I got to know the people in line in front of me and behind me. I didn't have to wait in line long, only about three hours. The first people started lining up at 11:00 pm the day before. I spoke with one man who said he lined up at 5 am and, at that time, there were about 200 people ahead of him.

The individual personalized service was amazing. When I got to the head of the line an apple employee came and escorted me into the store (we were lined up in the mall just outside the store). We chatted and he found out this was my first Apple purchase and asked me if I would like someone to help me set up the iPad 2 for use and give me a quick introduction. He stayed with me as I purchased it and then walked me over to Marc, introduced me, and then went to fetch another lucky person from the head of the line. Marc spent about 15 minutes with me and gave me a helpful orientation.

And now I have an iPad 2! I am very happy. :-)

Now, though, I have to figure out how to setup a wifi hotspot, but I'll leave that for my next blog post. :)