Professional line sitter Greg Packer has been bumped from the front of the iPad line at the 5th Avenue Apple Store.
Packer didn’t reserve his iPad, so he’s dropped behind German blogger Richard Gutjahr, who did reserve an iPad.
“Apparently nobody before me in the original line had a reservation,” Gutjahr just emailed me from his iPhone. “Crazy.”
As we reported yesterday, Packer began his campout to be first in line for an iPad on Thursday. Packer is a professional line sitter who has gained considerable media attention for being first in line for scores of events, including the original iPhone and Ground Zero.
Gutjahr says Packer is angry about getting bumped. “He seems to be really mad,” Gutjahr wrote. “Funny thing: the media still thinks he’d be the number one who gets the iPad. But he needs to wait until the reserved line is done. And that one is lead by me. Who would have thought this?”
Gutjahr says there are about 20 people in line so far at the flagship Manhattan store. He and the others in line plan to camp out all night until the iPad goes on sale at 9AM. Gutjarh is blogging the event.
Crowds are expected to be light because Apple offered pre-orders and reservations. Most people will receive their iPads by UPS tomorrow or will pick up reserved iPads at Apple stores in the morning.
Still, the absence of a big crowd at the Cube-shaped store — normally a huge tourist attraction — is giving Gutjahr pause. “Hope its not a flop,” he wrote.