MacTalk in New York - 24 Hours Until iPad!

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There's about 24 hours to go until we're let in to Apple's 5th Avenue store to pick up our iPads, excitement is building and I've had a barrage of questions aimed at me on Twitter and on the forums as to what is going on with our iPad expedition. Instead of replying to each one with the same answer over and over, I thought I'd write a quick FAQ here so everyone can read it.

<strong>How many iPads are you buying?</strong>
Pete and I will aim to buy 24 iPads. 7x 64GB, 5x 32GB and 12x 16GB. 23 people have paid me to bring them back, plus one for myself. I'll be getting a 16GB model.

<strong>How are you going to get that many?</strong>
I don't think I'll be able to get all 24. It will be a crapshoot. What we've done is made 8 US AppleID's and reserved 2 iPads with each Apple ID at each Apple Store in Manhattan (there are 4 Apple Stores in New York). We should be able to get 16 with minimal fuss. The only thing stopping us is the potential lines at the stores we visit after the 5th Avenue Store. We have until 3PM on Saturday to pick up our reserved iPads. If we don't get them all by 3PM, then it's first come, first served and our reservations are ignored.

Apparently Best Buy and some "Apple Specialists" (read: resellers), will have them on the day. We will be keeping an eye out on what those stores are doing as well.

<strong>Can you get me one?</strong>
I would like to get more (since I've left, there's been at least 20 people begging me to get them one), but I doubt I'll be able to get the 24 I need for the people who have actually paid already, so unfortunately, I can't get one for you. If I somehow manage to get more than 24, the extras will be up for sale on the forums.

<strong>How are you going to get all those iPads back in the country?</strong>
A big suitcase. I hope the iPad packaging is nice and small, hah. I enquired with customs about the iPads and they said that as long as I pay the GST &amp; duty, they don't mind.

<strong>Have you told your credit card company/bank about all this card activity?</strong>
Yes I have. My card/s, shouldn't be cancelled on the day for "suspicious" activity.

<strong>Dude! The line has begun! What are you waiting for?!</strong>
Greg Packer is dude with no life. I am in New York. I'm not wasting an entire day in this awesome city just to stand outside a freaking store! Pete and I will get there very early on Saturday morning and wait for 9AM.

<strong>Will you be recording any video of the hustle for iPads?</strong>
We personally won't be recording any video, but there is a team in New York making a documentary about "happiness" and one of the sections of that doco is about how brands and technology can make people happy. They found out about our escapade and a camera crew will be following Pete and I on Saturday. Hopefully we can get the raw footage off him and upload some snippets ourselves for you guys to watch before the doco comes out.