You may not be able to station an order for theiPad 2until the new tablet arrive a week from Friday . But you will have a wider ranger of shopping choice compare to what was available a yr ago for the original iPad ’s launching .
Here ’s a breakdown of where you may get your hired man on an iPad 2 when the lozenge debuts on March 11 .
Direct from Apple
As with any Apple product , you have the option of getting the iPad 2 straight from the source . If you want tobuy the raw gadget now from Apple , you ’ve perplex the same selection as always — online or in - person at an Apple Store near you .
Online ordering has a bit of a wrinkle this time around . In the past times , you could go toApple ’s online storeand seat an gild for a product that had been announced but was n’t yet ship . Pre - guild your Apple goodie early enough , and you could even be secure of encounter it the same day it arrived in stores — and sometimes a solar day or two betimes .
That ’s changed with the iPad 2 — online orders wo n’t begin until March 11 , the twenty-four hours the new tablet hits stores . On the bright side , Apple is put up free shipping for the iPad 2 .
Walmart is already advertising the iPad 2 on its Web site.
Update : A calendar week after we originally published this story , Apple announce the particulars of on-line ordering . you may place an order through Apple ’s Website starting at 1 a.m. PT on March 11 .
If arrive an iPad on the twenty-four hour period it launches is key to you , you’re able to always reach one of236 Apple Stores in the U.S.The downside : That will have in mind waiting in line . With the iPad not going on sale until 5 p.m. local time on March 11 , you’re able to also gestate waiting line to get quite lengthy , with some Apple fans lining well in procession for a place near the front . That happened with last year ’s iPad launch , where the prosperous person at the front of the line at the Fifth Avenue Apple Store spent the night there . And that was when Apple still direct pre - decree for the iPad .
As a further incentive to brave the crowds of next Friday ’s iPad 2 launching , Apple is promising free personal setup for your new tablet . Store staffers can also advise you on rate plan if you ’re prefer for a 3G - equip poser . ( We ’ve got our owncomparison of AT&Ts and Verizon ’s plansfor your reference . )
Walmart is already advertising the iPad 2 on its Web site.
Of course , there ’s an easy enough path to annul foresighted line at an Apple retail store — await a few mean solar day for the initial crush of early adoptive parent to go bad down . If account is any guide , a week after the iPad 2 ’s spill , you should be able to stroll properly into an Apple Store and pick up a new tablet without much of a postponement … other than the seven day you ’ve already look while other users got first cranny at the iPad 2 , that is .
Other outlets
Walmart is already advertise the iPad 2 on its Web site .
Since releasing the first iPad in April 2010 , Apple has expanded the retail reach of its tablet to stores run by its cellular net collaborator , AT&T and Verizon , as well as general - interest department stores likeWalmart and Target . That drift is continuing with the iPad 2 launching .
Verizonthis week confirmed that it would be selling the iPad 2 at launching , whileAT&Twas being more discreet with its plans . “ We have n’t announced details yet , ” an AT&T spokeswoman toldMacworldon Friday .
Walmart is alreadyfeaturing the iPad 2 on its Website , and aTargetspokesman on Friday confirmed that chain would be selling the new gimmick “ on or around March 11 . ” ( Target is also advertize its electronics swap - in program , usable at more than 800 of the fellowship ’s storage , that will let customers swop in first - generation iPads for store quotation start on March 13 . )
“ We foretell our guest being really unrestrained to get the in vogue technology , ” said Target spokesowman Kristy Walker .
The Modern pill will also be usable atBest Buy , which is featuring the twist on its Website .
So far , there have been no signals as to whether online retailers likeAmazonwould be able to trade the iPad 2 at launching . But Apple - authorized independent retail merchant , likeSpringboard Mediain Philadelphia , expect offer the new equipment straightaway .
“ I think it ’s going to be immense , ” said Everett Katzen , Springboard ’s president . “ I intend if masses were n’t waiting for unexampled features , they did n’t require to buy an older model . Ever since Christmas , I ’ve been hearing that people are wait for the new modelling to buy an iPad . ”
Peter Fader , who watches the consumer electronics industry from his rod as the co - theatre director of the Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative , say the enlarge market placement for the iPad 2 will help Apple ward off its burgeoning pad challenger . There ’s little risk that expansion will dilute the Apple brand .
“ I think it ’s brilliant . The wide ( the market ) the right , ” he allege . “ It might be an way out at the first of a product , when you want to make a certain kind of seal of approval . The iPad is past that . There ’s obviously competition on the celestial horizon , so you want to push them out on the shelf . ”
Updated March 10 with raw info on online order .
