Holyoke Mall Apple store sees long iPad 2 lines

Across the U.S., thousands of people waited in line for their chance to purchase Apple's newest tablet computer.

The Republican | Mark M. Murray03.11.2011 | HOLYOKE – Hundreds of people line up outside the Apple Store at the Holyoke Mall, waiting for the store to open and the new iPad 2 to go on sale.

HOLYOKE – Hundreds of people in Western Massachusetts joined thousands of others across the country hoping to snag an iPad 2 tablet computer when it went on sale at 5 p.m. at the Apple Store at the Holyoke Mall.

The line snaked through the mall and outside to the parking lot, according to The Republican photographer Mark M. Murray. A person answering the phone at the store couldn't say how many people sought the device or how many the store had on hand, referring all questions to Apple's public relations department, which did not immediately return a call.

The iPad 2 is a thinner, more light-weight and faster-working version of the original iPad. Apple sold more than 300,000 iPads on its first day of sale last April, and sold more than 15 million in the first nine months.

View full sizeThe Republican | Mark M. Murray03.11.2011 | HOLYOKE – The Holyoke Mall's Apple store was a busy place Friday afternoon.

Outside the Apple Store in New York, college student Amanda Foote sold her first-in-line spot for $900, according to the Daily Mail. The Daily Mail reported Foote had been in line since 5 p.m. Wednesday.

According to the website Wired, between 200 and 300 people were lined up by noon in San Francisco, and the New York line was more than a block long.

The new iPad model comes with several improvements over the original version but the same price tag — $499 to $829, depending on storage space and whether they can connect to the Internet over a cellular network — hobbling efforts by rivals at breaking Apple's hold on the emerging market for tablet computers.

The iPad 2 looks much like the first iPad, only with a sleeker, lighter body with a curved back. Among changes is the inclusion of cameras for videoconferencing, one on the front and one on the back.

Material from The Associated Press included