There are actually many options to buy iPad 2 this Friday:
http://obamapacman.com/2011/03/where-to-buy-ipad-2-march-11-details/
http://obamapacman.com/2011/03/where-to-buy-ipad-2-march-11-details/
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Apple is really pushing for people to buy in store.
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Unless you ask them to activate it, no reason would they ever open it. I've purchased probably 4 or 5 in an Apple store over the past year, not one has had the plastic off before I got home to open it myself.
Won't be an issue.
How else are they going to get a ton of people to come to their retail stores so they can take pictures and use them for future corporate events (earnings presentations, product successes, etc.)? 
And, if my slap doesn't hit them before they open it, I'll say, "that's not the one that I bought: mine is still in the shrink wrap".
I would actually want Apple store to activate my iPad for me. I have to jump on a bus to Boston (from NYC), without even going home. So hopefully there's enough juice to last the trip and I would not need to lug my laptop with me just to activate it. I can always tether it to my Evo 4G for the internet.
Indeed, and God help them if they dare peel the protective film off the screen. That's one of the most fun parts!
Last year I had the Apple store activate mine for me before I left. Why? Two reasons, actually. One was to be sure that there were no problems with the device itself and the second was because I wasn't going to be able to set things up with it at home until later that night and wanted to be able to at least play with it a little bit in the meantime. Worked out fine!
A friend did not have hers activated in-store and she got all the way home with her precious new box only to discover that while they'd charged her for the 64 GB they had handed her a 32 GB box! She had to drive back to the store right then and there, which ticked her off.
A word to the wise: when the sales associate hands you the box, take the time to verify that it IS the color and the capacity that you had specified!
A friend did not have hers activated in-store and she got all the way home with her precious new box only to discover that while they'd charged her for the 64 GB they had handed her a 32 GB box! She had to drive back to the store right then and there, which ticked her off.
A word to the wise: when the sales associate hands you the box, take the time to verify that it IS the color and the capacity that you had specified!
Now THAT I agree with. You touch protective film and we have problems. For me, that's the definite line that turns NEW product into a USED product.
Yeah, the first thing that popped into my head when I saw the "no web pre-orders" mode for this launch was that they really wanted to work the press hard for this one and make sure the lines were as long as possible for those camera crews. Not only that, but they proved with the iPhone 4 launch that they simply don't own enough computing power (ironic, eh) to handle a large influx of web orders.
One other thought here. All of the money & hard work that went into their "clapping training" program would go to waste if you ordered over the web. These people want the opportunity to really show their skills!
One other thought here. All of the money & hard work that went into their "clapping training" program would go to waste if you ordered over the web. These people want the opportunity to really show their skills!
Not sure how important this is. I've purchased about 15+ LCD products for myself and family. In addition to that, my freelance work and my day job saw about 400+ LCDs deployed, and so far, I am yet to encounter a dead pixel. I think the very first (and last) dead pixel I saw was on my gf's 1st gen iTouch.
besieds, I am buying it with Amex, who has a warranty. A call, and I get it replaced, if Apple refuses to.
It seems like a weird move to me still because the iPhone 4 launch had plenty of pre-orders and there were still the spectacular lines and product shortages. I know they are now all nervous because of the Verizon launch but if you think about it, that was a re-release of an existing product just for a different network. It was not all that exciting not like the iPad 2 which is a new generation of a device.
As long as the apple store is not completely crazy I'll have them activate it for me so I can use it before I get home and make sure everything works.
