Apple Retail Stores Begin Prepping for iPad Launch as First Third-Party Retailers Open

[MacRumors]

With Apple's official launch of the iPad in Australia, Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong just hours away, it seems that some of the company's retail stores are beginning their preparations. At Apple's Fukuoka Tenjin store in Japan, which closed for the night a little over an hour ago, employees are currently hard at work removing iPad 2 units from display in order to replace them with demo models of the new iPad.

Apple's retail stores will be opening at 8:00 AM local time to begin selling the new iPad, but some third-party retail partners will be opening even earlier. In fact, our friends at iFixit have traveled to Australia in order to be among the first to obtain an iPad for teardown purposes and were first in line at a Telstra retail store in Melbourne that opened just a few minutes ago at midnight. The carrier is even celebrating the event with a meter square iPad cake.

Update: iFixit now has its iPad in hand and will begin tearing it down shortly.

Article Link: Apple Retail Stores Begin Prepping for iPad Launch as First Third-Party Retailers Open

 

[monkeylui]

Look forward to the tear down, just for fun. I won't do it to my own of course.

 

[powerslave12r]

Update: iFixit now has its iPad in hand and will begin tearing it down shortly.

Here we go.

 

[gregwyattjr]

...it is coming.

 

[Small White Car]

I gotta say, I was not expecting there to be a such thing as an Apple Store Mallet.

But now that I know it exists, I love it. I can only hope that it has a little apple logo on the head.

 

[RevToTheRedline]

I'll say it, that cake sucks, heh

 

[KingJosh]

I'll say it, that cake sucks, heh

you can't just say that without giving a reason or it makes you look jealous.

 

[HelveticaNeue]

Cake would have been perfect if they hadn't mixed up the locations of Newsstand and Settings ... shame

Update: Oh, judging from the down votes I am either offending fans of Telstra or Apple fans who don't appreciate the details. Didn't mean to offend. It's just that the cake came so close to perfect.

 

[KingJosh]

So many hours of work would have gone into detailing that cake

 

[Santabean2000]

Looking forward to reading what iFixit find in 'the pad'.

Love their work.

 

[mertyz]

We spend months following every single new internal leak.
We finally see an assembled one at the Apple's keynote event.
We tear it down to see internals again after the launch.

What's wrong with us?

 

[G5isAlive]

I don't know whether to laugh or ... oh heck I am laughing. IFixIt has travelled halfway around the globe to beat father time and tear the thing apart before its even opening day here in the states? Too funny that I will see the iPads guts here before I even have the chance to open my shiny new box tomorrow (go FedEx!).

 

[iapplelove]

can't wait!

i'm gonna try not to read any reviews good or bad until i have mine tomorrow

 

[Lesser Evets]

'Sup with the pillows around the cake? Looks like a cake on a bed. In an Apple Store.

 

[JangoFett124]

I wonder if they'll be replacing the iPads used for displaying product information about the corresponding product as well. That would be a ton of new iPads for limited use.

 

[greytmom]

The tear downs freak me out and fascinate me, all at the same time.

And what a fun cake - I want some!

 

[scarred]

Based on last nights reviews, I did finally put in my iPad order. Even the most negative (NY Times) pretty much said an iPad gen 1 to gen 3 is a no-brainer upgrade. I did so knowing ifix-it will be getting their review done with plenty of time for me to cancel. But I'm confident all the insides will be as expected, so the order is in place. April 17th is estimated delivery date. lawl....

 

[Madhawk]

Lucky Australians...

 

[jtcouch]

That is some dedication by iFixit to travel that far for a tear down.

 

[berkleeboy210]

The largest Apple Store in Boston I think is still dark from the Blackout we had here a couple days ago. Will be interesting to see what happens if they don't get power back by tomorrow...

 

[greytmom]

Cake would have been perfect if they hadn't mixed up the locations of Newsstand and Settings ... shame

All you have to do is press and hold until the icons wiggle, and you can rearrange the apps.

Might be a little squishy with the icing and all.

 

[d0vr]

I can hear the iPads (iFixit's) poor screams... "Nooo! Take the others you horrible bastards! I don't want to be a part of your medieval operations."

 

[nylonsteel]

re original article

the pic of the australian ipad cake is way too cute

 

[FloatingBones]

Will all of the accessory iPads in Apple Stores be replaced tonight?

Will Apple immediately replace all of those iPads in the plastic cases used to display product information for all machines in the Apple Stores?

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

The cake probably tastes like garbage.

I've had cakes with designs like that before, and calling them "edible" is the same as calling paper "edible". The design literally peels right off... it's just a layer of fondant. And for those who have never eaten fondant before, let me tell you, fondant sucks. Though it's made of only sugar and water, it tastes nothing like sugar or water (or soda, which is also just sugar and water.)