Bring on the Lamingtons, Australia got the new iPad first! Too bad it doesn’t do 4G here. Maybe that’s why queues were clearly down. Gizmodo hit the streets of Sydney for Telstra’s midnight opening, while just across the road Apple faithful quietly considered an unexpected twist. Buy a $30 Telstra prepaid stater pack and they could grab the iPad outright (not on a plan) long before Apple opens at 8am. What’s an iPad camper to do?
Personally, that sounds better to me than parking my arse on a footpath all night. But to each their own. Some Apple Store queuers had grabbed Telstra waiting numbers, and by 12:30am had begun to be served. Telstra was really only officially pushing its plan-based iPad purchases, but the outright option was still there, albeit limited to one per person.
First in line at Telstra was David from Cheltenham in Sydney (pictured at far top). He joined those who were first in line at Telstra’s Melbourne store and a few Big W locations overnight.
Despite the lack of LTE support in Australia, a Telstra rep told Giz that the new iPad’s support for dual-channel HSPA+ should still provide a data boost: specifically allowing speeds between 1- and 20Mbps with a coverage area of about 60 per cent of the population. In other areas, single channel HSPA+ is rated between 1 and 8Mbps. As you’d expect, we’ll be testing the new device’s speeds as soon as possible.
Also expect a full hands-on evaluation from Alex on Friday, once I’ve passed on the new iPad I have in my hot little hands right now. All I’ve done so far is set it up out of the box, and yep, that screen does look inviting. But so do the 28+ new Android tablets we’ve heard about. And so does my bed. Sleepy time.
Stuff that for a joke. Looking at the tracking info my iPad preordered from apple was in Melbourne yesterday arvo and is now on its way here. By the time I finish work at 10am it should be at my house. Why bother camping out (the person who is first in line is being paid $950 to doso, why would you pay so much more than needed) when you could have it delivered right to you for free.
Telstra just blew it with Apple by stealing their thunder.
All these people are feverishly buying tech toys on ridiculous telco plans every year because its the thing to do. No wonder Australians are in so much debt. Enjoy your ipads!
+1 rampant consumerism will catch up with us at the moment its all hunky dory
+1, the downward spiral is just around the corner
I joined the que at 6am, then heard Dick Smith had been selling them since 5:30! I ducked across and bought a couple, to the extreme ire of the overnighters..
I was looking for the Samsung logo on the new ipad, but couldnt find it!!!!!! I think I have a fake :(
Its on the back of the LCD panel :p
i guess samsung have to do something with all that spare production capacity from the tablets they're not selling . it's funny, when i hold my galaxy tab up to the light, you can JUST make out the apple logo on the back. obviously the person whose job it was to peel off the apple sticker and put a samsung sticker instead was a bit sloppy.
What's this about the $30 pre-paid and getting an ipad outright? Can't seem to find any details on this through the Telstra website. Or was it a special deal on the night?
The article says it's just an in-store thing. they aren't advertising that you can do it. But it's there.
Can someone please explain to me why people would queue overnight for something they could have bought by just crossing the street? And also why would you camp out on a street just for the luxury of being number 18 in the queue - not even first! And do you get a big sign or loud speaker announcement every time you switch on your iPad or when you walk down the street that says "New iPad owner no. 14 in Australia"
No wonder I think the iPhone and iPad owners are a tad .... oh, never mind.
+1 - Long live the idiocy
Well.. the wife and I discussed it but without the 4G ability, it's just another glorified iPod Touch.. We do like the new screen.. but it's not enough to get our wallets out. Will wait for these other 28+ tablets to see what happens.
I went to my local Telstra shop 2 days ago, when I enquired about the availabilty of the new Ipad they answered, "what, is there a new Ipad?"
went to my local big w at 830 this morning and picked 1 up with only 4 ppl there
Went to Big W and no one was there. They had them all stacked up there. Bought one. Was on my way, took me like 2 minutes. And his was about 2 hours ago.
*this