Hasta La Gadget!

We just landed at Apple’s 5th avenue flagship, “The Cube,” and it’s… a little bare. We count less than 15 people in line at this point (still headed by the inimitable Greg Packer), and most of them actually have pre-orders. Despite the minimal line situation, Apple has a huge section of The Cube’s plaza cordoned off to make room for more, and the NYPD is here with barriers galore, ready to lay down the law. We’re told the lines will be split between pre-orderers and non-pre-orderers at 6:30PM, at which point the scene will look truly pitiful. Presumably the crowd will grow later tonight and swell early next morning, as those pre-orderers with nothing to worry about shuffle in, breakfast in their bellies. Or maybe everyone just went to the beach for the weekend.

Have you spotted a line in your city? Send us a tip! Not planning on braving the beautiful spring weather for a shot at this revolutionary / magical device? Make sure to check out Josh’s iPad-equipped Jimmy Fallon appearance later tonight.

CLICK HERE TO READ ENGADGET’S FULL REVIEW OF THE IPAD!

Update: News is filtering in from all over — check it after the break, and make sure to send in what you’re seeing, wherever you are!

Update 2: The line at The Cube is moving! Check out the update after the break.

Update 3: We’re Ustreaming live from NYC’s Cube store. Check it after the break!

Continue reading iPad line watch: the few, the proud? (updating, Woz on deck!)

iPad line watch: the few, the proud? (updating, Woz on deck!) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 03 Apr 2010 06:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We just landed at Apple’s 5th avenue flagship, “The Cube,” and it’s… a little bare. We count less than 15 people in line at this point (still headed by the inimitable Greg Packer), and most of them actually have pre-orders. Despite the minimal line situation, Apple has a huge section of The Cube’s plaza cordoned off to make room for more, and the NYPD is here with barriers galore, ready to lay down the law. We’re told the lines will be split between pre-orderers and non-pre-orderers at 6:30PM, at which point the scene will look truly pitiful. Presumably the crowd will grow later tonight and swell early next morning, as those pre-orderers with nothing to worry about shuffle in, breakfast in their bellies. Or maybe everyone just went to the beach for the weekend.

Have you spotted a line in your city? Send us a tip! Not planning on braving the beautiful spring weather for a shot at this revolutionary / magical device? Make sure to check out Josh’s iPad-equipped Jimmy Fallon appearance later tonight.

iPad line watch: the few, the proud? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Apr 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There are now over 1,348 approved apps for the iPad. That’s on top of the 150,000 iPad-compatible iPhone programs already available in the App Store. When Apple’s tablet PC launches, just hours from now, it will have a software library greater than that of any handheld in history — not counting the occasional UMPC. That said, the vast majority of even those 1,348 iPad apps are not original. They were designed for the iPhone, a device with a comparatively pokey processor and a tiny screen, and most have just been tweaked slightly, upped in price and given an “HD” suffix — as if that somehow justified the increased cost.

Besides, we’ve seen the amazing potential programs have on iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and webOS when given access to a touchscreen, always-on data connection, GPS, cloud storage and WiFi — but where are the apps that truly define iPad? What will take advantage of its extra headroom, new UI paradigms and multitouch real estate? Caught between netbook and smartphone, what does the iPad do that the iPhone cannot? After spending hours digging through the web and new iPad section of the App Store, we believe we have a number of reasonably compelling answers.

Update: Now includes Wormhole Remote, TweetDeck, SkyGrid, Touchgrind HD, GoToMeeting, SplitBrowser, iDisplay, Geometry Wars and Drawing Pad.

Continue reading iPad apps: defining experiences from the first wave

iPad apps: defining experiences from the first wave originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Apr 2010 15:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple sold out of its iPad tablet online, but no one is sure of how many units that represents. Plus, Apple isn’t sharing how many iPads it’s stocking in Apple and Best Buy stores across the country. Still, it’s fun to try and guess how many they’ll sell over the next two days, isn’t it? You could try to do it by comparing to previous Apple product sales numbers. Last year, for example, Apple reported selling over one million iPhone 3GS models in roughly 3 days.In 2007, Apple sold over 200,000 iPhones in retail. Morgan Stanley is predicting Apple will sell 10 million iPads this year.

Our poll is for retail sales this weekend only (Saturday at 9 AM EST to Sunday at closing time PST). Will we see iPhone numbers or iPhone upgrade sales numbers? No one expects Apple TV numbers. Post your vote after the jump.

When Steve Jobs introduced the iPad he was quick to shake his finger in the nose of the other devices out there attempting to fill the gap between cell phone and full-sized laptop, and in particular those market-dominating netbooks. In Apple’s opinion, the iPad may be the gadget for surfing the web, watching movies, reading books and running apps, but it’s surely not the only game in town. And if you aren’t sold on the iPad, but happen to be someone who’s looking to buy a secondary computing device to use while traveling or while simply lying on the couch, your choices at the moment come down to netbooks and… well, more netbooks. And that’s not such a bad thing, especially if you need a feature Apple’s tablet can’t offer, like multitasking, a keyboard, or Flash support. So, before you get up on Saturday morning and run off to purchase that iPad, you may want to peruse the best current (as well as coming) alternatives we’ve rounded up after the break.

Continue reading iPass? The best present and future alternatives to the Apple iPad

iPass? The best present and future alternatives to the Apple iPad originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Apr 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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