Sébastien Page

As of tomorrow 5pm you will be able to buy the iPad 2 in several locations, including of course the Apple Store. For those of you who don't want to wait in line, Apple will allow for iPad 2 orders online as of 1am PST.

I need 3 iPads so here is my strategy: I'll set my alarm clock at 1am and order 2 iPads, one white, one black. These 2 iPads are gifts for my mother and mother in law.

I'll go to the Apple Store Friday before 5pm and get the line. As soon as I get inside the store, I will check out the 2 colors and decide whether I want to go with white or black. Historically, I've always chose black products, but I have to admit the white iPad 2 looks gorgeous.

Unless you're an Apple fanatic like me, I believe the best solution for you is to order online. Sure you won't get instant gratification, but Apple said they will ship online orders fast. That means that you could get your new iPad as early as Saturday, or, worst case scenario, on Monday.

So, what are you going to do?

Usually, Apple lets you pre-order their new products. For example, you could pre-order the iPhone 4 to get it delivered to your house on the same day it is available in store. This has always been my preferred method of buying Apple products, as I don't have the patience to wait for hours in line.

When Apple introduced the iPad 2 last week, they announced that the new device will be available for sale in stores as of Friday 11th, 5pm. Why such an odd time of the day, you may ask.

The conspiracy theorist in me has it all figured out, and again, it's all about marketing and PR. Here is my reasoning...

6 points of sale = 6 times more publicity

The iPad 2 will be for sale in 6 locations (Apple Store, Best Buy, etc...), which is very unusual. Normally, Apple and its partners (AT&T and now Verizon) are the only one to launch a product. But the more stores that sell the iPad 2, the more publicity Apple gets.

At 5pm on a Friday, people won't mind getting in line

At 5pm on a Friday, pretty much everyone is on weekend, thus available to wait in line for an iPad. I suspect that stores like Walmart, Best Buy, and Target will have a very limited amount of iPads on stock in order to create scarcity, which will turn into free publicity (ie. news headline: iPad 2 sells out in 2 hours at Best Buy).

Huge lines = even more publicity

Apple knows that by starting to sell the iPad 2 at 5pm, this will create gigantic lines at 6 different locations instead of one, if they chose to only sell the iPad at their stores. Again, this is a marketing stunt to generate bigger headlines (ie. Thousands get in line at Best Buy, Target, Apple Store, etc to buy the new iPad 2).

What do you think?