Geekology: iPad part deux | The Source Weekly - Bend, Oregon

Geekology: iPad part deux

Portlanders line up for their new iPads.

The intended goal of our Portland-area trip this past Friday was to bring two local 12-year old fashionistas face-to-face with the wares at the recently opened outlet for Swedish retailer H & M. That location just happens to be in that most American of American places, The Washington Square Mall in that that oh-so-suburban community known as Beaverton. Just being in Beaverburg makes you think Bend is more than paradise, but that’s another story.

Onward we marched into the disco-pumping sounds that surround every purchase at H and M and other outlets like Aeropostale, Forever 21, Hollister, etc.

As we trolled from one brand location to the next, we kept passing pods of people sitting in camp chairs emblazoned with “Dick’s Sporting Goods” logos all arranged in cordoned off areas. To a person, everyone in each of the three pods we passed were on laptops, smart phones or iPads. Some were on two devices at once, all looked like fresh air wasn’t something they were used to and, to be honest, their average weight-per-stature seemed a bit high.


 

We could not figure what was going on until we passed a pod directly across from the Mac store (Mecca for sure) and were told that the people in the pods were there to buy the new iPad-2, which would be released at 5 p.m. Friday evening.

How long had they been there?

“Some since last night,” said a helpful Apple employee.

Wow, we’d heard about it but never seen it – the mad rush to be among the first to get the latest Apple product. On one hand, it was at once a small moment in geek history and on the other hand totally absurd.

By the way, the girls rated the H and M shopping a 9 on a zero (yuk) to 10 (fashion fabulous) scale. And there are no waiting pods to get into the store.

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