The Business Blog at Intuitive.com

Dave Taylor has been involved with the Internet since 1980 and is widely recognized as an expert on both technical and business issues. He has been published over a thousand times, launched four Internet-related startup companies, has written twenty business and technical books and holds both an MBA and MS Ed. Dave maintains four weblogs: The Business Blog at Intuitive.com, Ask Dave Taylor, Dave On Film, and Attachment Parenting Blog. Dave is an award-winning speaker, sought after conference and workshop participant and frequent guest on radio and podcast programs.

Pre-Ordering an Apple iPad: The Visual Tour

I don't know what it is about Apple products that makes me just whip out my credit card, but damned if I don't have one of each, even to the laptops. I think the only product that I've resisted is the Apple TV and that's only because it doesn't play Hulu content. When I started reading - and hearing - about the new Apple iPad, well, heck, yeah, I wanted one. I think it's a revolutionary device (as I've talked about on the Boulder Open Podcast that I co-host) and, of course, I want to write about how to do things with the iPad on my Ask Dave Taylor.com site too.

But that's just an excuse. I just want one. :-)

So when I learned that pre-orders for the new iPad were going to happen at 5.30am PST on March 12, 2010, I dutifully set the alarm on my Apple iPhone to wake up at 6.25am MST and try to get to the head of the line. After all, it wouldn't be cool if my friends had one and I was still on the $#@$&# waiting list, would it?

I fired up Twitter, so I could watch the iPad chatter, and went to the Apple Store, where I got to see this:

Then, at precisely 6.30am, I saw a tweet that "Pre-orders have begun!! Whoohoo!" and refreshed one more time:

Well, heck, it's so early I'm a bit groggy, but I think I know what I want! Click on the "pre-order" button and:

Lots of options. Since I have a Verizon mifi unit, I have always just been interested in the Wi-fi version: I don't want to pay yet another cell bill to get data access through yet another device anyway. Size? Well, the smallest is inevitably going to be too small once I drop some films and my music and photo library on it (not to mention a ton of games!), and my iPhone is 16GB so... coin flip... a 32GB unit sounds nice. That's what I order.

A surprising number of accessories are included, notably a dock and a cable that lets you get VGA out of the iPad (what, no HDMI? No DVI? Interesting), but after a moments thought, I decide that the accessories will be easy to acquire later and skip 'em all on my pre-order.

$599 for the privilege of being an early adopter? Suuurrreeee....

Add $45.89 in Colorado sales tax and $12.00 shipping to get it a wee bit early and I click on the "Place Order Now" button.

Fingers crossed, hoping the Apple Store doesn't glitch, and ...

YES! SCORE!!!

Now the almost impossible wait for the product to actually ship and arrive.

Man, I am such a fanboy. But I admit it, and that's part of the solution, right? :-)

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