Business & Tech

First in Line for the iPad Means Not Waiting Two Whole Weeks

To Victor Miranda waiting any time at all for the latest iPad is simply unacceptable.

When the Valley Fair Apple store opens at 8 a.m. March 16—the first day the new can be purchased in retail stores—Victor Miranda will have been waiting outside its doors for almost 24 hours. To him, it’s worth it, it’s the best way to be sure to get the latest iPad now—not in a few days, or a week or egads more than a week…now.

“I like having the latest everything. I have every single (Apple) product since the iPod came out,” he says.

Plus, he just likes the whole experience.

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And he does not want to wait even one day to get the newest Apple product, which is why he didn’t buy one online—the first ship date for online purchases is March 19.

“I could have ordered it online. I don’t want it to be late,” he says.

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To be certain he could spend the night he burned up two vacation days from his job at the City of Sunnyvale, where he works as a mechanic in the recycling center.

“I have three weeks vacation, so I’m not worried,” he says.

Miranda, 29, of San Jose has every single Apple product since the launch of the iPod, and he keeps them all, though he’s toying with the idea of passing on his iPad 2 to a family member—to keep it in the family.

“I will keep it, or give it to my little sister. I don’t want to sell it; I want it to stay in the family. I want to be able to visit it every once in a while,” he says with a slight chuckle.

“They’re a collection in a way. I don’t use them I have them in a drawer. They all have their history.”

Armed for the long haul with protein bars and water, he forgot a chair but remembered the most important survival element—his iPad 2. A friend brought him a chair and a couple other friends stopped by to visit him and keep him company. Not that he needed company; he had his iPad 2.

“When I wake up I watch the news on it. At work, on my breaks I watch a show or play a game. I use it at the gym. Before I go to sleep I check Facebook,” he says.

Does it go with him everywhere?

“Always. Every single day.”

He’s ready to plop down $906.48 for a white, 4G LTE, 64GB—about the same as what he paid for the iPad 2, he says.

He waited in line for that one last year, too, but he came a little earlier this year. By 8 p.m. Thursday there were about 15 or so others who lined up behind him, he said.

“I thought the line was going to start a lot earlier. I never thought I was going to be the first in line.”

—Luke Stangel from Tackable contributed to this report.


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