The iPad: what exactly are those queues like?

Yes, Shiny readers, that is literally what’s happening across the States right now: and papers all over have been telling us what those queues are like. Here’s a round-up:

The Sun informs us: Queues formed outside Apple stores last night in the US as people wanted to be among the first to get their hands on one.

The BBC reckons the queues ain’t what they were back in ’07:
“Queues for the new iPad were considerably smaller than the crowds which gathered for the launch of the iPhone in 2007, according to reports. However people had travelled to the US from around the world to purchase a device.”

“In Palo Alto, California, tech expert and former Microsoft “technology evangelist” Robert Scoble, who spent the night outside a store with Chatroulette creator Andrey Ternovskiy, said there were only around 30 in the queue.”

It’s not just that cheeky Russian teenager who has come from abroad to join the queues – Apple-mad Australians have been making the pilgrimage to the NY store too according to news.au.com:
“Australian Apple fans have begun the long trek to New York in the hope of getting their hands on the most talked-about gadget of the year. […] Several Australians set off this week on international missions to get their hands on the tablet computer or show off the apps they’ve made for it.”
– Good for them, but surely the flight costs infinitely more than the device does…?

The Ft.com tells the whole queue thing right from the beginning in a blog promising “the story of how ordinary Americans, and one FT reporter, ventured out this spring day on their own voyage of discovery”. I quote:
“8.45am In line outside the store, about 35 ahead of me in the reserved queue, and 25 in the waiting to purchase line, not as many as the 99 I counted the day the iPhone went on sale, but there were no pre-orders then.”
This progresses as the reporter moves up the queue and finally gets to the top of the queue then gets an iPad. It’s a gripping read.

And some on-the-street reporting from Chicago, where the Apple employees made the whole queuing thing fun:
“Hundreds lined up in the rain to get their hands on the portable Apple tablet reader. For their efforts they were rewarded not only with some of the world’s first iPads but a shower of applause and high-fives from Apple store employees.”

When we all get the ‘Pad over here we’ll do some more exciting ‘Pad Queue reports. Till then Pad-lovers we’re in a psychological queue.