It’s not just Americans that are crazy for the iPad 2. Check out this video of the huge line outside the Apple Store on London’s Regent Street on Friday. It just goes on and on.
Via OnlyGizmso
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac.
Leander is a longtime technology reporter and the author of six acclaimed books about Apple, including two New York Times bestsellers: Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products and Inside Steve’s Brain, a biography of Steve Jobs.
He’s also written a top-selling biography of Apple CEO Tim Cook and authored Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, which both won prestigious design awards. Most recently, he was co-author of Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition.
Leander has been reporting about Apple and technology for nearly 30 years.
Before founding Cult of Mac as an independent publication, Leander was news editor at Wired.com, where he was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Wired.com website. He headed up a team of six section editors, a dozen reporters and a large pool of freelancers. Together the team produced a daily digest of stories about the impact of science and technology, and won several awards, including several Webby Awards, 2X Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism and the 2010 MIN (Magazine Industry Newsletter) award for best blog, among others.
Before being promoted to news editor, Leander was Wired.com’s senior reporter, primarily covering Apple. During that time, Leander published a ton of scoops, including the first in-depth report about the development of the iPod. Leander attended almost every keynote speech and special product launch presented by Steve Jobs, including the historic launches of the iPhone and iPad. He also reported from almost every Macworld Expo in the late ’90s and early ‘2000s, including, sadly, the last shows in Boston, San Francisco and Tokyo. His reporting for Wired.com formed the basis of the first Cult of Mac book, and subsequently this website.
Before joining Wired, Leander was a senior reporter at the legendary MacWeek, the storied and long-running weekly that documented Apple and its community in the 1980s and ’90s.
Leander has written for Wired magazine (including the Issue 16.04 cover story about Steve Jobs’ leadership at Apple, entitled Evil/Genius), Scientific American, The Guardian, The Observer, The San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.
Leander is an expert on:
Apple and Apple history
Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Tim Cook and Apple leadership
Apple community
iPhone and iOS
iPad and iPadOS
Mac and macOS
Apple Watch and watchOS
Apple TV and tvOS
AirPods
Leander has a postgrad diploma in artificial intelligence from the University of Aberdeen, and a BSc (Hons) in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex.
He has a diploma in journalism from the UK’s National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Leander lives in San Francisco, California, and is married with four children. He’s an avid biker and has ridden in many long-distance bike events, including California’s legendary Death Ride.
You can find out more about Leander on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can follow him on X at @lkahney or Instagram.
40 responses to “iPad 2 Launch In London: That’s One Loooong Line”
Now you know why queuing is a British obsession! Most of the people didn’t want an iPad 2, but joined because they thought it was the queue for the no. 19 bus to Clapham…
Woe betide anyone trying to push in!
I have to say, I think it’s rather keen to be in one of those queues, but you have to hand it to Apple – it’s a great way to advertise your new products.
WOW. I look at all those people standing in line patiently and thank the heavens I did not go to a Apple store to get my hands on the IPad2. I decided to try the authorised Albion Apple reseller in the Srand, after calling them the day before launch to check if they would any IPad2 devices in stock. I guessed correctly that most people would head to a Apple store and not know about Albion, even so I was surprised and very happy to find just one person waiting in line when I arrived at 1.30pm. We had a good chat while we waited outside the shop and by 5.00pm there were about 75-100 people in line. The very friendly & helpful staff at Albion confirmed they had a total of 200 IPads in stock and I was in and out of the store in 5 mins with my shiny new White 32g 3G under my arm. Yippee!!!
The Droidtards were claiming that Apple hired out-of-work Shakespearean actors and actresses to stand on that line. If you think this line is long, wait until you see the line for RIM’s PlayBook that has Flash capabilities. Most consumers require Flash on their computing devices, so the PlayBook line should be about ten times as long. BTW, where is the PlayBook being sold? At RIM’s own retail outlets?
They’re all thinking either “Wish I brought my iPad to surf the web while I wait” or “Glad I brought my iPad to surf the web while I wait”.
Anyone knows if the store still has them in stock. The line is very long there today, so I assume availability is not a problem. Perhaps, Apple has solved the supply issue since the launch.
I am having fun as the anti-Apple BBC is badly digesting iPad 2 early success.
And HuffingtonPost ignorant tech writers waving Android flags.
Mind-bogs you how Apple success really piss people.
Can anyone give us the street names? I’m having a hard time visualizing where the queue winds through the streets. I also wonder what kind of mess there may have been over at the Covent Garden store (or is that where this line ends?!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…
what a bunch of losers!
they were in line to get dental appointments.
The queue starts on St. George Street and follows down Hanover Street to the store on Regent Street: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?…
Oh, and the Covent Garden store is over on the far side of Regent Street, this line doesn’t go anywhere near it.
Thanks for the route, it’s a big help. For some reason I thought the store was further south. The Covent Garden reference was a joke.
You shoulda bought two and hopped on the #6 up to Regent Street to auction it off. Probably could have covered your own. Or sold both and flown to the Spain to get another one! (hindsight…)
I had the same line of thought, but in the end, I couldn’t take enough time off even to go to a reseller, so I just ordered online. There’s already two iPads in my family, so I can survive a couple more weeks to have one for myself.
lucky people, I hope they had more ipads in the store than in Luxembourg. In Luxembourg only 70,- YES Seventy Ipads. :D
Hoping the creators of this video, OnlyGizmos would be given credit. thanks
Was that PlayBook claim also from the droidtards? Or was that yours?
Makes no sense IMO, most consumers wont care about flash any further than youtube, they care far more about the amount of Apps available, a lot of them probably don’t know what flash is if you ask them. Then think of the amount of people who don’t really know about any of the other tablets, neither the Playbook nor all the droid tablets.
I had the same idea but decided against it as most credit cards have a £300 cash withdrawal limit. 2 other guys behind me in the line did buy an extra IPad each to flog outside the Covent Garden Store but as I strolled casually along the line at CG, with my IPad2 under my arm, I saw the same two guys being ushered away by security guards in front of the crowds waiting in line. Not a good look.
I hear you. You must have the patience of a saint? I’m not a saint but I am a proud and happy owner of my IPad2. Big smile.