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New iPad still coming to Apple Stores at 8AM on Friday, don't worry
Getting a little bit antsy in your respective Apple Store queue? Don't worry, Cupertino let it be known that its new iPad is on-track for an 8AM debut this Friday. The "resolutionary" (Apple's fault, not ours) tablet will be reaching Apple Stores on March 16th at 8AM local time in ten countries: the US (including Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands), Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland and the UK. Here in the States, the iPad will also be hitting a number of retailers, including Best Buy, Radio Shack, Sam's Club, Target and Walmart. The tablet starts at $499, the line starts around the corner and the relevant press info starts after the break.
Naver's Skype competitor Line crosses 20 million mark
In just eight months, Line has gone from a glimmer in Naver's eye to a 20 million member strong VoIP and messaging service. Perhaps most impressively, it's done so with only iPhone and Android apps available. The company is working on PC, Mac and tablet clients, but for now this is a mobile phone-only app. The speed at which its growing is significantly faster than both Facebook and Twitter, a fact the company is immensely proud of -- but, we wouldn't read to much into that.
Meizu MX launches today, lines dotted all over China as usual (updated)
This time last year we witnessed the Meizu M9 madness in Shenzhen, so we decided to pay our favorite gadget city another visit for the MX launch today (still the 1.4GHz dual-core model, of course). Surprisingly, the lines in Huaqiangbei this time were significantly shorter, but we were told that this was due to tighter security measures as requested by the local authorities -- if you've seen last year's photos you'll know why. Instead, this year the customers are told to line up only when they get a phone call; but a few keen beans still arrived last night, and the first guy in Shenzhen even turned down hotel accommodation offered by Meizu. Yep, that's how you do a "first" properly, folks. Other big cities in China also saw a similar phenomenon, including Beijing, Guangzhou and even Hong Kong -- it's hard to miss the long line formed along the south end of Sai Yeung Choi Street outside the new Mongkok store. Meizu also informed us that the MX's final hardware benefits from an improved camera (tweaked white balance and the lens now benefits from an oleophobic coating), while the software's been giving many enhancements since our review -- these are mostly the weird default settings we mentioned previously, such as the max clock speed out of the box (now at 1.4GHz instead of 1GHz) and the default video recording resolution (now 1080p instead of the weird 1,080 x 720 setting). Oh, and if you're still rocking the older M9, Meizu has confirmed that it'll also get the Ice Cream Sandwich update later this year, so stay tuned. More in the press release after the break. Update: A Meizu engineer confirmed on the company's forum that from now on, all Meizu Android devices -- including the M9 -- will receive both a vanilla OS build and a Meizu-customised build. That said, the phones won't support simultaneous dual-system, so you must pick your destiny. Thanks, Andi!
Hong Kong line for iPhone 4S numbers in the thousands
We mentioned in passing that the iPhone 4S had sold out in ten minutes at the Hong Kong Apple Store, but given these pictures that have been posted online since, a statement like that doesn't really do the launch justice. That place looks like a madhouse -- thousands of people lined up to buy Apple's new iPhone, and the police were out in force with barricades and dogs to make sure everything went smoothly. Black market salesmen were buying and selling iPhones outside the store, apparently, and leaving the queue got your picture taken and your number checked. There were even "professional queuers," low income workers that were paid to simply stand in line and buy the phone when it became available. The whole thing is a little shocking, actually -- here in the States, waiting in line for a new game or a new iPhone is kind of a silly thing to do to show your appreciation for a new product, but in Hong Kong it is serious business apparently. I hope nobody got hurt at the launch out there, and though it seems unlikely, I also hope everyone who wanted an iPhone day got one. [photo by M.I.C gadget]
Customers line up for iPhone 4S on launch day
It's iPhone 4S day and people are lining up around the world to be the first to buy the iPhone 4S. Lines range from really short to really long, depending on where you live. Here in the US, the iPhone 4S is available from several retailers and three wireless carriers which will reduce the number of people waiting at one location. There was also over one million pre-orders according to one analyst's estimate. Apple reported over one million pre-orders before the phone actually went on sale. iPhone 4S purchases are expected to be brisk so you should hustle out the door if you want an iPhone 4S today. Some analysts predict Apple could sell 4 million iPhone 4 handsets this weekend alone. [Via CNN Money] %Gallery-136513%
Samsung crashes iPhone 4S block party, lures Aussies with $2 Galaxy S IIs
Can't say we didn't see this catfight coming after Apple boldly rejected Samsung's settlement offer in Australia, but man, the latter certainly isn't afraid of striking back in its enemy's front yard. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Sammy's set up a pop-up store merely meters away from Apple's Sydney store, all for just stealing the thunder from the iPhone 4S launch this Friday. The campaign? For the first ten customers each day up to Friday, the Korean giant's offering its Galaxy S II for just $2 sans contract -- no wonder the line's already longer than Apple's, according to the Herald. But of course, Samsung's also effectively funding some of these folks for their iPhone 4S from next door, so it's pretty much a win-win situation for both companies. See? There's always a happy ending, and let's hope that the upcoming Nexus Prime won't add fuel to the ongoing patent dispute. [Thanks, Kevin]
The Wii U line is E3's most popular experience
Reactions to the Wii U and its controller have been somewhat mixed. Despite that, or perhaps because of that, there is no shortage of people hoping to find out for themselves. On Tuesday morning, we saw a sign warning of a one-hour line to try the device. On Wednesday morning, the line was five hours long. On Wednesday afternoon, "Sorry Line Closed." "Hey, what did you see at E3," several hundred attendees' friends will ask them next week. "The guy standing in front of me in the Nintendo line, mostly," those attendees will respond.
Long line forms for WWDC
This is just crazy. A growing line of attendees is forming outside the Moscone Center as people begin to line up at WWDC. The line started overnight and extends over six blocks. Here is what some people are saying about their wait: Cold in the #wwdc line. I need to find a Flash website and cuddle my macbookpro. @StewGleadow Had to walk around the whole block to find the end of the line. And now I get to wait 4 hrs @ WWDC 11 @f1fe In line :) hopping for a nice seat #WWDC @staceymnelson Team Apperian queueing up - looks like we're 1,176th in line according to the dude walking and counting at WWDC @Apperian WWDC keynote: Royal Wedding for nerds.@petermaurer Standing in line, catching up on my Instapaper backlog. #WWDC @statonjr Just walked by the WWDC line. That thing is longer than the line for a new ride at Disneyland and people look just as excited. @OneStepBehind #WWDC staying in line at corner of 5th and Howard. Got iPad. Got coffee in hand. I'm fine. @redmonds Apple folk are insisting 5 wide on sidewalk and the line still wraps all 4 sides of Moscone. #wwdc @MobilityMatters There is also a nice 360° panorama view of the line here. Check out our gallery for line pics; it's growing by the minute! %Gallery-125391%
Long iPad lines continue at some Apple Stores, many go home empty-handed
As midnight approaches on the East Coast of the US, long lines for the iPad 2 remain at some Apple Stores. The image above shows the line at the 5th Avenue store in New York City just before 11 PM local time, with dozens of people still waiting outside the store well after nightfall. Meanwhile, on the West Coast, 9 to 5 Mac reports severe supply constraints in certain models of iPad 2, with many line waiters either having to pick a model other than the one they originally sought, or worse, going home empty-handed altogether. Mark Gurman reports that Apple doesn't seem to be limiting device per person purchases, with one customer walking out with six AT&T-model iPad 2s. Demand for the iPad 2 was widely expected to be high, and the quick slipping of online orders' shipping dates from 3-5 days down to 2-3 weeks seems to have been an early harbinger of Apple's supply being unable to keep up with that demand. Apple Stores nationwide are selling out of virtually all models of iPad 2 on launch day, with no early word yet on when new supply shipments will arrive. Considering the intense demand for the device in the US, would-be international iPad 2 buyers must be looking at March 25 with a wary eye. If Apple's supply of the iPad 2 continues to be constrained, it's likely that the multi-country international launch will see extremely limited numbers of units available.
BlizzCon 2010: Food cart sells Murloc baked goods, potions
The line to pick your badge for tomorrow's 2010 BlizzCon remains a bit of an endurance test. With hundreds of fellow players, you'll be waiting for hours in a line that snakes around the convention center. The usual array of pizza boxes and fast food wrappers lay strewn about, but there's one more relief for the hungry and afflicted line waiters this year. A food cart travels up and down the line, selling baked goods ostensibly provided by Cookie the Murloc, the Defias' chef, fruit from Stranglethorn Vale, sweets from Smokywood Pastures, and bottled water that doubles as a rejuvenation potion, according to the cart's sign. I have to say, those prices don't exactly inspire Heroism in me or anything, but hey. If you're hungry and stuck in line, you do what you gotta do. Maybe next year that Taco stand will finally rebrand themselves Murloco's Tacos. For high res pics of the cart and more, check the gallery below. %Gallery-105730% BlizzCon 2010 is upon us! WoW Insider has all the latest news and information. We're bringing you liveblogging of the WoW panels, interviews with WoW celebrities and attendees and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
China gets the iPad
As you can see in the video above, China finally got the iPad (officially) this week, and Mac fans there were pretty excited about it. The device went on sale this morning at the Apple Stores in Beijing and Shanghai, and hundreds of people stood in the rain -- one man was there waiting for two days. He's the guy in the "I buy iPad" t-shirt, I think, and good for him; looks like it worked out all right. Only the Wi-Fi models are on sale so far, 5588 yuan (US $826) for 64gb, 4788 yuan ($712) and 3988 yuan ($590) for 16gb. iPads have been available in China so far only through the "gray market," unauthorized resellers from other countries. Early reports from the stores say that the iPad is selling better than the iPhone first did there, which is good news for Apple. It's been hoping to gain a much better foothold in China recently, so a big release for the iPad is a nice step in that direction.
Newest Canadian Apple Store draws hundreds
Here's a local report from Newmarket, Ontario in Canada, where Apple opened up a brand new store at the Upper Canada Mall over the weekend. Apparently hundreds of people were in line for the opening on Saturday morning, trying to get the iPhone 4 as well as all of the new iPod devices. Everybody involved sounds pretty happy, from the people who got in line starting at 4:30am, to the manager of the new store and the landlord in the mall itself. Then again, maybe that's their Canadian friendliness coming through. Good for Newmarket -- Toronto was one of the closest stores to the town, but now the folks up there will have to travel 60 fewer kilometers to get their Apple fix. Congrats on the new store, eh?
iPhone 4 launch day line watch (update: Woz in action)
From the London store Welcome to the latest installment of our annual tradition: the iPhone launch day queue experience in pictorial form. London's getting the party started early (not as early as some, admittedly) with a sizable crowd turning the corner from the Apple Store at Regent Street, but we'll keep this post updated with imagery from all over the place. Wouldn't mind if you helped us out with a few of your own pics, either. You know where to send them in by now, and once you've done that, feel free to slide past the break to see how everyone else is doing it. Update: Now with reports from San Francisco! Update 2: NY joins the fray! Update 3: We added some of the more interesting reader-submitted stories. Update 4: Reports from Palo Alto and San Jose, California! Update 5: London's doors have swung open and we're now busy activating our brand new Apple phones. Update 6: Woz and his Segway make their regular appearance at the San Jose Valley Fair Apple Store. Update 7: We're adding a bunch of reader reports. Even as Apple opens its doors to pre-orderers in the US, the lines remain crazy. Update 8: Apple serving fries in Chicago! Update 9: We've added our London video that was intended for the latest Engadget Show. Enjoy!
The line in Knoxville, TN is freaking huge
I came up to our local mall this morning and found that they had just begun to let people inside at 6:30am. The line for the iPhone 4 was huge, and apparently that was just for the non-preorders. The pre-order line snakes from the Apple Store to nearly the front door, and I'd say there are well over 200, possibly as many as 400 or 500 people if you add up both lines. Several hundred of those are simply hoping to get a phone without a reservation! Good luck, those of us with reservations are sweating the situation. I've seen some negotiating in line as well. One person ahead of me just spoke to an Apple retail person and might have managed to get a 2nd phone although she could only reserve one online. Hope that phone wasn't mine! We'll have more reports from other stores soon, plus our findings on antenna and screens coming up later today. %Gallery-96191% Update: The line is moving right along, and we're seeing people leave with shiny new iPhones.
HTC EVO 4G launch day line watch
You've had the day circled on your calendar for nearly a month, you've seen its insides, you've seen it rooted, and you've even witnessed Froyo running on its massive 4.3-inch screen. Now the time has finally come to actually own the EVO. As is our time-honored tradition with galactically significant product launches, we're starting up a little photo essay here showing the progression of lines outside Sprint stores through this most auspicious of days. Only the trick here is that you'll be doing our writing for us, a thousand words at a time. Join us after the break for the pictures and don't forget -- a lot of stores will be opening early to sate demand.
Eleven ways to stifle boredom in the iPad line
One of most excruciatingly boring experiences of my life was waiting in line on June 29, 2007 for my first-generation iPhone. The day was clear and hot, and although I had my laptop with me, it quickly ran out of juice as we waited for the official opening of the store for iPhone sales at 5 PM. Some people appear to have infinite patience, but TUAW reader Cody is like me -- he gets bored easily. In an email, Cody said "I will be standing in the Best Buy line for well over 5 hours. Do you have any suggestions on ways to help time go by? I think it would be helpful if you compiled a list and posted it on TUAW!" Well, we're at your service, Cody! And hopefully, these ideas will keep hundreds of thousands of iPad owners-to-be from suffering from terminal boredom in the early morning hours in line. Please note that several of these suggestions require that the person standing in line own an iPhone, so if you don't own one already, get thee to an Apple Store now! Do live streaming video the entire time you're in line. TUAW bloggers will be giving you live coverage of iPad Saturday at a number of locations across the country, but there's just not going to be enough local coverage everywhere. Grab yourself a copy of Qik (US$0.99) or Ustream Broadcaster (free), maybe buy yourself a Sima LED Video Light to strap to your head to brighten things up at 2 AM, and bring a lot of fully charged Monoprice battery packs. After all, we don't want to miss one thrilling moment of your time interviewing each and every person in the line at least twice.
Woz to buy two iPads
Newsweek chatted with one Steve Wozniak the week before the iPad launch, and unsurprisingly, he's going all-in on the new device, and planning on picking up (at least) two, one WiFi and one 3G. He's ordered them up online already, but he says he'll still be stopping by an Apple Store on Friday evening, to "wait in line, just for fun." What a guy. He actually says he didn't think the iPad was for him, since he already had an iPhone, but he says that after thinking about it, he really is excited about the bigger screen and browsing. He also is sure that it will be popular with students and even people who aren't necessarily computer literate. "The iPad simplifies things," he says wisely. "It's like a restart. We all say we want things to be simpler. All of a sudden we have this simple thing." Sounds good. When the iPhone launched, Woz was at the San Jose Apple Store, we believe, so if you're planning on camping out in line there this weekend, keep your eyes open for a jolly computer designer carrying more gadgets than you can count.
BlizzCon 2009: Lineblogging at the badge pickup
Good BlizzCon eve everybody! While Schramm was able to sneak in and get the inside scoop on the goody bag, some of us are still sitting out in here in line waiting patiently for our turn. While we were waiting, I grabbed my somewhat low quality woot purchased camera, had Michael Gray save me a place in line, and got some photos of the line. It's pretty long at the moment. At the least, it's snaked around the convention center. Check out our gallery below. %Gallery-70611% BlizzCon 2009 is here! WoW.com has continuing coverage, bringing you the latest in Cataclysm news, live blogs, galleries, and reports right from the convention floor. Check out WoW.com's Guide to BlizzCon for the latest!
Apple unleashes iPhone 3G S on well-prepared US public (with video!)
As the international date line swung around to the States and rain finally stopped in NY, a few hundred people lined up outside the Fifth Avenue Apple Store today for Apple's new iPhone, with the those The iLife guys up front descending into the store at 7AM to the sound of applause from the cheery horde of Apple Store employees. It was a far sight from the mayhem of previous launches -- the whole line was able to be contained in the elevated portion to the right of the store, no sidewalk necessary -- but it was still a fairly impressive turnout for a spec-bumped phone and a rainy night. Stand by for video from the launch, and be sure to send in your own launch impressions.Update: Video is after the break!
iPhone 3G S global launch sees smaller lines, quieter reception (update)
What a difference 18 months makes, eh? The relative short line for today's iPhone 3G S launch at Apple's flagship Regent Street store in London could be attributed to any number of factors: the economy, the steep cost of upgrade for iPhone 3G owners, or the fact that Apple allowed for advanced iPhone 3G S orders with home delivery. Or maybe people just aren't willing to wait in line for a bump in speed, improved graphics, and video recording. We wouldn't call it apathy but the iPhone halo doesn't seem as shiny beneath a spotlight now shared with Android and the new Pre. Regardless, the iPhone 3G S is now on sale in the UK and a few more European countries with North America up next after a few degrees of the Earth's rotation. Update: According to O2, sales for the 3G S have already surpassed numbers for the iPhone 3G during last year's launch. So it's possible that the pre-orders were in full effect here. However, you have to remember that Europe and O2 in the UK in particular had very serious problems meeting demand at the time of the iPhone 3G launch last year. So this statement likely says more about inventory management than it does the demand of the 3G S vs the 3G. [images courtesy of Richard Lai and mrgeoffb]