So I went to the local Best Buy last night and talked to one of the guys who was working the line on Friday. Here's what he said:
This particular Best Buy received 70 iPad 2s for the launch. They knew on WEDNESDAY exactly what SKUs they had, and how many of each -- so they knew well in advance that they had no Verizon iPads at all and only 64 GB iPads for AT&T. BUT they were forbidden by Apple to tell ANYONE any of this information until right before the 5 PM launch, so it technically wasn't allowed for them to post a sign anywhere that said "No Verizon iPads -- we have WiFi iPads in all sizes and 64 GB AT&T iPads" and save people the trouble of waiting for something that they KNEW wasn't there.
So while I still think they're idiots, for agreeing to Apple's terms and then sheepishly obeying them to the letter, I am kinda ticked with Apple right now -- their demand for absolute secrecy is directly responsible for wasting quite a few customers' time on Friday. It's quite obvious that Apple set this whole thing up to generate pressworthy lines -- and to hell with customers' valuable time.
This particular Best Buy received 70 iPad 2s for the launch. They knew on WEDNESDAY exactly what SKUs they had, and how many of each -- so they knew well in advance that they had no Verizon iPads at all and only 64 GB iPads for AT&T. BUT they were forbidden by Apple to tell ANYONE any of this information until right before the 5 PM launch, so it technically wasn't allowed for them to post a sign anywhere that said "No Verizon iPads -- we have WiFi iPads in all sizes and 64 GB AT&T iPads" and save people the trouble of waiting for something that they KNEW wasn't there.
So while I still think they're idiots, for agreeing to Apple's terms and then sheepishly obeying them to the letter, I am kinda ticked with Apple right now -- their demand for absolute secrecy is directly responsible for wasting quite a few customers' time on Friday. It's quite obvious that Apple set this whole thing up to generate pressworthy lines -- and to hell with customers' valuable time.