Crowds line up for iPad 2 across the U.S.A. (with photos)

Apple’s iPad 2 goes on sale today at 5 p.m. local time across the United States and lines are already forming.

UPDATE: 5:30 pm ET: Readers tell us of huge lines at Apple Retail Stores. For example, one MacDailyNews reader counted 700+ people in line at Apple Store Crossgates in Albany, NY just before the doors opened at 5pm.

If you’re in an iPad 2 line, please send us a photo (webmaster@macdailynews.com) and please note your location and we’ll post them below!

Note that the iPad 2 line for Apple Store Bellueve  Square passes right outside the Microsoft Store located in the same mall!

Related article: Piper analyst Gene Munster: Don’t expect long lines for iPad 2 – March 10, 2011

74 Comments

  1. Austin Barton Creek sold out at 8:00 pm and had to turn away several hundred people. All stock in Austin is gone, including the popup store. Thats three Apple stores. Guess Gene M should have checked for lines a little more closely.

  2. I went to the Best Buy in my neighborhood, they had 20 iPads to sell for the Grand iPad debut. Petty ridiculous. I will buy one, but I for one refuse to stand in line for hours to buy a gadgets, regardless how cool it might be.

  3. I went to a Target in Milwaukee, WI. No line at 4:30. at 4:45 4 other people showed up at the electronics counter. 5 people. Only 5 16GB White Wi-Fi iPad 2 were avail. 5 min. Over. A different Target only had 6 32GB Black Wi-Fi. Strange.

  4. Huge lines at Apple Store in Nashville. I wanted a 3G but they were sold out of all 3G models by 6:30. Not wanting to leave empty handed I bought 2 wifi units thinking I’d sell them. I’m not sure I will make it through this night. I hear them calling to me from beneath their cellophane cage.

    Should I be strong and wait for the 3G or can I live with a wifi version?

  5. I was about 149th in line and managed to make it inside the Park Meadows Mall in Lonetree, Colorado before the Apple employees came down the line with the bad news that all AT&T 3G iPad’s were sold out…this was like 5:20 MST. Yikes, only 20 minutes to sell out all AT&T 3G models.

  6. Was able to reserve a white 64Gb Verizon 3G model at the Verizon store last Monday. Received three calls from the Verizob store throughout Friday making sure I was serious because they had crowds gathering. Arrived at 5:10 and picked up my Precious and a grey neoprene cover. Officially handed off my original iPad to my wife and am enjoying the snappier performance. iMovie app here I come!

  7. A note to Gene Munsters Boss
    Whatever you are paying him you need to seriously review it. As an analyst he seems to get it more wrong than right. What betting man would have said no queues at an apple product launch. Halve his salary

  8. Saturday 08;49 Just received e-mail from FedX that my iPad2 has shipped. It does say delivery date of 3-17-2011 but I’m guessing it will be by the 14th. I ordered the $499 black Wi Fi at 03:00 Friday morning. Bam!

  9. It would be interesting to see how many of these buyers
    are first time owners as opposed to up graders. For 1st
    timers, I say go for it. For others like me. No way!
    My main one is the 64GB 3G. Also have the 64GB Wi-Fi.
    Both models generation 1. The second one has all my
    music (20GB+and growing) and hundreds of comics
    for the ComicZeal4 app. Both pads have c8GB free.
    The new pad is blazing fast. No reason to up grade
    as the old one wasn’t slow just fast. As to the cameras,
    they suck (front 640×480,back 720×960). Useless for
    stills. Can’t hold a candle to iPhone 4’s camera which is
    superb. Max capacity still at 64GB. I would buy if it had
    a great camera. I would buy if it had 128GB capacity or
    an SD slot in spite of the lousy camera. I’m sitting this
    one out and waiting for iPad 3. 🙁

  10. 5th ave store had 2 2hr lines, one on each side. If you were thinking about making the line apple aecurity officers were screaming NO ATT 3G models left! ONLY VERIZON!! But not many people were buying into this… Once inside, the sales force had access to whatever was out at that moment, but 3G ATT units were the most sought after, i saw no 16 or 64GB models of any kind while there, only 32GB models, which was weird, and they were going like hotcakes, id say 100 per minute, it was unbelievably how the were getting rid of them… A Chinese man had a small sweat shop working with over 5 kids wit wads of cash going around, he had like 70-100 ipads in 3 huge grocery bags… It was insane… Only store to be open 24/7 and the line is not coming down!

  11. I have an iPad 1:st gen, 64GB-3G. The only single reason why I will upgrade is the 512 MB RAM, twice as much as the previous iPad and as much as my iPhone 4. Several apps, most notably AutoCAD WS (but also others) seems to be memory-deprived on my iPad but works great on the iPhone. I am sick and tired to double-click and stop all other running apps. Those offensive apps works fine in a 512 MB environment and iPad with its much superior screen real-estate works those apps better. Thank you Apple!!!

  12. I ordered mine yesterday at about 7:30 am and got a ship date of 4/1… Just as a piece of personal research, I went this afternoon to 2 Wal-Marts. 2-Targets. 1 Best-Buy, 1 AT&T store and finally to the Apple store here in SOUTH Southern Orange county (CA).. between noon and 1:30 pm pacific time… NOTHING…ALL GONE…NADA… And some VERY irritated folks everywhere…

  13. I walked past the 5th Ave Store at about 11am and there were maybe 200 or 300 people.

    Around 1:45 I walked past the SoHo store and the line was 3/4 of the way up Greene Street toward Houston… maybe 500. The odd thing was that the majority of people in line seemed to be Chinese.

  14. Apparently Mr. Munster didn’t take into account that there would be no preorders, and that, while there may be more players this time around, sending Target 5 units hardly qualifies as a viable alternative to waiting on line at Apple or Best Buy.

    The other thing, that I assume, he didn’t take into consideration is that this is the model that those who didn’t buy iPad 1 were waiting for. Many people I spoke to about the original iPad complained about the lack of a camera and the apprehension about buying a first gen device. This product served both issues as well as providing a nice (and noticeable) performance boost. When you toss in the original iPad owners who wanted to upgrade or add to their iPad collection you actually had the potential for quite the opposite of Mr. Munster’s predictions.

    In all fairness, I can see how he could come to the conclusion he he did, but if you really did some homework and put some real thought into the issue you would see that this prediction would fall flat on it’s face.

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