Early morning crowds, irate pedestrians, wildly enthusiastic Apple Store employees....the Sydney launch of the iPad was everything you'd expect from a big Apple product launch (see our photo gallery here).
Inside the George Street Apple Store blue-shirted employees broke out into seemingly random bouts of wilds applause and formed large conga-lines around the store. Outside, by the time the doors to the Apple Store officially opened at close to 8am, we estimated there were 200 or so people lined up, along with an assortment of news media and bemused pedestrians.
For many people the big question is - what is the point of the iPad? What do you actually do with it?
Do you buy it to replace a laptop? Is this an "around the house" device, or will we see buses full of people carrying iPads? And what about ebook readers like the Kindle?
One of the things we were interested to ask iPad buyers about was the list of complaints written about the iPad - no USB, no support for Flash web sites, no camera, and Apple's locked-down approach to which apps you can install and where you get your movies and music. Not to mention the argument that it doesn't do anything a tablet or iPhone can do.
As you would expect, iPad buyers had a very different outlook on these things to those who criticise the device. In fact, perhaps a little unlike the iPad US launch, many of the people we spoke to had some idea of what they think the iPad is for.
See the video above for some of their comments. Also, don't forget to visit our iPad Launch Centre, for the best iPad plans go here, here's our First Look at the iPad and to read our full review of the iPad, don't miss the July issue of PC Authority magazine, which goes on sale next week.
Is there a market for the iPad? Why or why not? Add your comment below.
