iPad 2 Vigil 2011 - CANOE (blog)

People, it seems, have gone gaga over the Apple iPad. When Apple CEO Steve Jobs first brought it into this world, there was a line-up for that. And when it finally hit the Canadian market on May 28, 2010, there was a line-up for that, too!

Just ten months later and we're seeing the successor to the wildly successful tablet that had already found itself in the hands of 15 million people and it's déjà vu and a line-up for that too! (and don't forget, it's still winter)

Just do a Google search on iPad 2 and I guarantee you, there will be no shortage of results. Story after story, this one included, not only about the iPad 2 itself, but a significant number just on the size of the line-ups. And it's not local. It seems to be happening in every city and every country where the iPad 2 is being released.

Geeks Camp Out in Edmonton

Edmonton, Alberta is no exception. In fact 2 die-hard self-professed gadget geeks, John Winslow (Geek) and his friend Harley Pawluck (Geek in-Training) camped out in front of the Apple Store at Southgate Centre Mall to be the first to get their hands on Apple's latest and greatest.

Winslow didn't arrive early enough at the iPad launch last year, only a few hours before the store's opening, went home empty handed and had to wait to get one. But the guy who wants to get every new Apple gadget didn't want to take that chance on a repeat performance, so he and his friend decided to arrive early, very early and named their quest – the iPad 2 Vigil 2011.

But the digital duo hadn't come to this store first, but rather Edmonton' s flagship store at West Edmonton Mall.

"We went there at 3:00 o'clock yesterday, but they're not keeping the mall open overnight because of the construction…so we booted over here at quarter-to-five."

Winslow already owns an iPad but wants the cameras and the faster processor amongst other reasons, so he'll be getting, "the big one" as he calls it, referring to the iPad 2 64GB WI-FI + 3G. Pawluck is picking up two – a 16GB and 32GB model, but they are for his Uncle.

To commemorate the event, they even had their own custom t-shirts made.

Check out the iPad 2 review in my previous post.

Greg Gazin is the Real Canadian Gadget Guy.

Follow me on Twitter @gadgetgreg

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Tags: apple, Edmonton, gadgetguy gadget guy, iPad 2, lineups