iPad debut brings Out buyers and 'browsers'

CEDAR RAPIDS – Instead of the new Harry Potter offering or a $10 griddle the day after Thanksgiving, the interest over the iPad, the latest product from Apple, brought out plenty of people to buy it or at least try it out.

Patrick Hangartner, of Watertown, Minn., was the first person in line Saturday morning at the Best Buy in Cedar Rapids.  He, his brother Ryan and father Steve each left the store with a new iPad.

“First one right here!” Hangartner yelled out after receiving his voucher, allowing him to purchase a 32GB iPad for $599.

Steve Hangartner said they had been waiting outside the store all night.

“At about 11, a couple other people came around,” said Steve Hangartner when asked about his long night in Cedar Rapids.  “Then at 2, the cops came around and questioned us and we said, ‘we're getting the iPod on steroids.'”

Here is what some the national and worldwide attention is about for the iPad:

- a 9.7? high-resolution screen.

- Internet/WiFi capabilities.

- More than 150,000 “Apps” can run on it.

- Really long lines in some cities.

As the 25 iPad units, between the 16GB ($499), the 32GB ($599) and the 64GB ($699), were spoken for in the hour after opening on Saturday, dozens of others ventured to the display, at the back of Best Buy, to try out the product themselves.

“It's actually cool,” said Preston Cannady of Cedar Rapids.  “The touchscreen is actually easier than I thought it would be.”

Yet for the crucial sales question:  What would it take to get this iPad in your hands…today?

“A bigger paycheck,” said Cannady, without hesitation.

Justin Flynn, a Digital Life Supervisor at Best Buy in Cedar Rapids, said the 25 units had only been in the store for about two hours before customers bought them up.

“They were in Louisville last night at 10 P.M. and they showed up at eight this morning,” said Flynn.  He said he hopes the Cedar Rapids store will receive a new shipment of iPad units “by next week”.  Flynn suggests calling ahead to stores to check on availability.

One man was very curious about the new iPad but he also told us he'll wait.

“I'm thinking I'm going to wait for a second generation, with a few more things, like a camera and at the same price,” said Tom Singer of Cedar Rapids, who said he has had iPhones and that he likes those products.  “I don't mind being on the cutting edge but I don't want to be on the bleeding edge.”

This latest product launch from Apple comes at a very lucrative time for company stockholders.  Following the success of iPod products, the 2007 launch of the iPhone and, now, the iPad, Apple stock (AAPL) is at an all-time high.  In the summer of 2005, one share of AAPL was about $35.  Today, that same share of AAPL trades for about $235…or about 40% of the cost of a 32GB iPad unit.

-Chris Earl, KCRG-TV9