Thousands of people thronged Apple stores on both US coasts as the iPad 2 went on sale on Friday, signalling a strong appetite for a device that dominates the fledgling market it created. Hordes of fans - some of whom had queued up overnight - formed raucous pre-sale lines, and attracted curious onlookers, in the chilly rain in Manhattan, and in San Francisco.
The crowds erupted as a sea of blue-shirted Apple staff threw open the doors at 5 pm and gave high-fives to the first iPad shoppers in Manhattan and San Francisco. The turnout underscores how demand for Apple's tablet remains strong nearly a year after the original proved a smash hit, single-handedly creating the tablet market, and inspiring a wave of imitators from Motorola to Research in Motion.
More than 800 queued outside the Apple store on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue ahead of the launch, hoping to be among the first to get the thinner, lighter and faster iPad that Chief Executive Steve Jobs unveiled last week to strong reviews. "I wanted to be a part of it," said Andrew Christian, 26, a pharmacy technician from the Bronx who was No 11 in line after waiting all night in the rain. He lined his sneakers with plastic Apple bags. Shares of Apple rose, $5.32, or 1.5 percent, to close at $351.99.
Wall Street anticipates a strong start to the iPad 2, on par with the original iPad, though some analysts were more bullish. Ticonderoga Securities' Brian White said Apple could potentially sell 1 million iPads over the weekend - roughly matching sales in their first month on the market in 2010.
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