Thousands in London queue for iPad 2

The last of five sections of the queue outside Apple's Regent Street store Friday. Video: onlygeek via YouTube

"I only need to say this one sentence to get across the magnitude of this launch," wrote Julian Alexander (AKA Tommo_UK) on Investor Village's AAPL Sanity board Friday evening:

"The lines were bigger than for ANY launch, I have ever seen, for anything, anywhere. Including for any iPhone launched to-date or last year's iPad.

"Simply awe inspiring," he continued. "There must have been several thousand people lining up outside the Regent Street and the Covent Garden stores by the time I checked at 6-7 pm, when the queues were at their peak. They are selling on eBay for up to double the retail price, right now.

"AAPL under $450? What a joke."

Below: The best video I've found of the five-sectioned queue outside Apple's (AAPL) Regent Street store, courtesy of OnlyGizmos. It took the videographer nearly four minutes to walk from one end of the line to the other.

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Posted in: Apple, Apple Store, Covent Garden, eBay, iPad, iPad 2, iPhone, Launch day, Regent Street, Tablets, Video

• Piper Jaffray: iPad 2 totally sold out, 70% to new buyers

  By Sunday, Gene Munster's team couldn't find an Apple tablet for sale at any retail outlet

  Gene Munster's team at Piper Jaffray walked the iPad 2 lines in New York City and Minneapolis and interviewed 236 would-be buyers. They also called various retailers (Apple stores, Target, Best Buy, etc.) looking for product. The results of their survey were released Sunday night. Their findings:

  Munster is sticking with his estimate of 400,000 to MORE

  Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Mar 13, 2011 8:39 PM ET
  Posted in: Apple, Best Buy, iPad, iPad 2, iPhone, Launch day, Minneapolis, New York, Piper Jaffray, Tablets, Target

• Predicting iPad sales: How close were the analysts?

  Published estimates -- from those who dared make them -- ranged from 250,000 to 700,000

  Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster issued a mea culpa Monday morning after Apple (AAPL) sent out a press release with its official iPad sales figures.

  Munster, who had predicted four days earlier that Apple would sell 200,000 to 300,000 iPads over the course of the weekend, more than doubled his estimate to 600,000 to 700,000 Saturday night MORE

  Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Apr 5, 2010 4:15 PM ET
  Posted in: Apple, Daniel Tello, Gene Munster, iPad, Launch day

• Piper Jaffray survey of iPad buyers: 74% owned Macs; 66% had iPhones

  Who were the device's first buyers, and what do they plan to do with it?

  Most of the people who lined up in New York and Minneapolis to purchase the iPad on Saturday were already committed Apple (AAPL) users, according to the results of a survey of 448 iPad buyers issued early Monday by Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster.

  The full results are pasted below the fold. The key findings:

  74% were Mac users MORE

  Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Apr 5, 2010 6:12 AM ET
  Posted in: Amazon, Apple, Gene Munster, iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Launch day, Mac

• The iPad and the failings of the computer industry

  Steve Jobs' latest creation drew big crowds; why can't his competitors manage the same magic? And isn't it time for Apple to show who can think big inside besides Jobs?

  Measured by its contribution to Apple's (AAPL) bottom line, the launch of the iPad last weekend -- with its attendant media frenzy and lines of customers snaking around city blocks and suburban malls -- was not a particularly big deal.

  Let's look MORE

  Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Apr 4, 2010 6:31 PM ET
  Posted in: Apple, iPad, Launch day, Microsoft, Steve Jobs, Tim Cook

• New iPad launch-day estimate: 600,000-700,000 sold

  Scattered reports of stockouts and a 9 a.m. headcount of 730 at New York's big glass cube

  UPDATE: Apple issued a press release Monday putting first-day iPad sales at over 300,000. They did not offer a number that included Sunday sales.

  "It feels great to have the iPad launched into the world -- it's going to be a game changer," said Steve Jobs, in a prepared statement. "iPad users, on average, MORE

  Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Apr 4, 2010 4:28 AM ET
  Posted in: Apple, Gene Munster, iPad, Launch day

• Inside the iPad launch-day hoopla

  Even if you've seen it all before, it's hard not to get caught up in the excitement

  A few minutes before the doors of Apple's (AAPL) Fifth Avenue store are scheduled to open, weird noises -- hoarse shouts and rebel yells -- emerge from the big glass cube.

  At the sound, hands holding LCD screens pop like dandelions out of the waiting throng, which by now must have swelled to at least MORE

  Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Apr 3, 2010 10:41 AM ET
  Posted in: Apple, Apple Store, iPad, Launch day