iPad2 arrives

I can't wait for iPad3.

It works both ways... I recall us Yanks lining up for the PlayStation 2 and brawling.

Come to Shizuoka City....no qs! ha ha ha.......

Aren't you supposed to wait a couple of weeks or months before you buy something new, like ipad or ps1, 2 or 3... they usually have technical problems or something which sony or some company need to "update" into a new version. I think it's stupid to wait several hours just to buy stuff that has problems instead of waiting for a new version!

Wow! I'm a mac fanboi and even I think that's whacked! Seriously, don't these people have something more meaningful to do with their lives / time? If you don't get it this month, there's always next month.

Anyone who's not paid to be in that line, needs to take a long hard look at their lives.

Wash, rinse and repeat in autumn for the Ipad3.

Baaaa. Baaaa.

Agree with the sentiments above but, if they are issuing water to everyone what happens when they need to pee? Do they lose their place or refill the bottle?

There's nothing more otaku than standing in line for Apple products holding and Apple umbrella.

Laguna: "There's nothing more otaku than standing in line for Apple products holding and Apple umbrella."

I disagree: there's cosplay events, manga museums, and people who drool over pictures of trains. The umbrellas are a bit much, granted, but waiting for a product that is highly praised and has already been delayed -- well, if I were standing in the hot sun I might take one as well (and the water).

I'm waiting to get one... if I get one. Still think it's slightly gratuitous to have both an iPhone and iPad unless there's a specific need for the latter that the former doesn't offer.

I think their priorities are slightly askew.

Aren't you supposed to wait a couple of weeks or months before you buy something new, like ipad or ps1, 2 or 3...

It already has been out for a few weeks in other areas.

cant you just buy one on line?

Sorry, smithinjapan. Let me rephrase that:

There's nothing more otaku than standing in line for Apple products holding an Apple **parasol. In April!

Poor babies - but then again, they probably don't get outside much.

Free bottled water, yeay!

I seriously think that if Apple called all their fanbots to a special meeting, locked the doors, and had Steve Jobs come out and ask all the fanbots to drink a special Apple-flavoured Kool-Aid, they'd oblige.

Go Apple!

cant you just buy one on line?

and miss all that fun or the chance to tell others that you were there?

That´s scary in a way. Of course now they just line up to buy Steve Jobs latest gadget, but this is the same kind of blind devotion that Asahara Shoko`s followers showed. Eek.

All those folks should just donate the cash they spent, or at least the same equivalent, and give it to the poor folks in tohoku. Who the heck actually needs one of these things with a new one coming out in the not too distant future?

This just reinforces my beliefs that too many Japanese people have no idea what to do with their money.

Aren't those lines similar to what was happening in the States? Lines everywhere, even in Japan.

As I wrote before, Apple gadgets are as essential as LV bags, Ferragamo shoes. They're not devices anymore, they're object of cult. You see lines everywhere when Apple releases new versions of anything. I know I'll stand in a queue when iPhone5 is out.

WilliB, I don't think I've seen a more ridiculous conflation of Japanese trending and cults in all my time reading JT. Absurd. LostinNagoya is right. Apple is as much about branding as products now; while some people can't fathom gadget spending that isn't carefully researched and sensible, others revel in the chance to be the first with the new toy. Maybe it's a deficinecy in attention or confidence. Or maybe they just really love certain products. In any case, the posters suggesting that this kind of fandom is uniquely Japanese are kidding themselves. Apple has been the darling of the chic designer set for years now; and gadgets are as elegant as and marketed like watches or cars now. It makes perfect sense for geeky types who might not be enthusiastic about physical competition to do it with their money; it's just like clothes, cars, and every other bit of conspicious consumption.

Apple people are so finatical. Scary.

I wonder if that water bottle is going to track and log their activity and movement, too. (c;

Anyone know if they sold out there today at the Apple Store? At Yodobashi Camera in Yokohama, I was told today that there was a 2-week wait for one. Still, a long line of buyers reserving one in advance. I wonder if you can go to the Ginza Apple store on Friday and actually buy one?

pathetic, it will be garbage within 6 months a year at the most.

wonder if anyone waits in line for sony's tablet

Tokyotom - don't be cynical. I'm sure Sony will pay dozens of people to stand in line to buy its tablet.

A picture like this definitely puts a great big smile on Steve Jobs face

It appears everyone posting (just about) is TOTALLY Anit-Mac. The idea here that APPLE is the only corporate entity that has "Cult" people standing in line for stuff is RIDICULOUS. One of my brothers had a job at Microsoft in Seattle a while back, and they had people out the door, down the sidewalk for 100' or more, to buy THEIR latest garbage. People will stand in line for ANYTHING, if they want it bad enough, this idea that it is unique to the Apple brand, is ludicrous.

Why? No depressed economy there!

@ tokyotom - thanks to all that free water, i'm sure there will be a wait at either sony's or apples's toilet!

I played with one last weekend. It's faster and thinner than the first one, but the camera is pure garbage. The quality is lower than a 10 year old phone. All the pictures look compressed and full of artifacts. Apple should have spent 50円　more to put a decent one. But that's for the iPad 3.

Mac's so boring these days.

Android is much cooler...

A picture like this definitely puts a great big smile on Steve Jobs face

...............

on shareholders' faces too, at 350 USD per share, very very sweet ( if you bought and held it since early 90's ). Yeah baby !!

Send that water to Fukushima. Let the inpatient grubs buy their own. Apple needs to produce enough product so that this pointless semi-annual display of desperation can stop. It's ridiculous to have a waiting list of two weeks for these products. They should make one that is worth keeping for more than a year or two.