Saturday's release had people lining up outside stores across the U.S. and here in the Central Valley. The doors opened at Fashion Fair at 9am.
After weeks of growing anticipation Apple fans finally got their hands on the new 10" touch screen tablet computer called the iPad.
Phet Khamasayoury from Visalia said, "Pictures, movies, internet. Right there."
Fresno's Jeffrey Negata said he would be looking up his apps, playing video games. A little bit of everything.
"This is pretty much going to do all the stuff I need to do with a laptop faster," said Aaron Preciado.
Preciado showed up to Fashion Fair Friday afternoon at one o'clock. But he was asked to leave when the mall closed.
Preciado said, "I came back at four and they said I can't be here till five. Came back at 4:30 and they kicked me out again and said really, don't come back till 5. So I came back at 4:50!"
An iPad will set you back $499. If you want more power and memory the price increases to $800. Apple describes this instrument as a combination of a smartphone and a laptop computer.
"I think that really is a hook to get people to start thinking, 'You should be an apple person. You should be a Mac person,'" said Fresno State economics professor Dr. William Rice.
Rice said price is not a factor for die hard apple fans. "They're willing to pay that amount of money to have that kind of leverage, that kind of product vocabulary that uniquely identifies them," he added.
Patrick was willing to pay that and the price of an airplane ticket. He flew overseas just to celebrate this moment. "I came yesterday from San Francisco. I drove here to Fresno. Drive now to Yosemite and drive back to San Francisco and fly to Germany."
Saturday's release was only U.S. based which means Patrick could be the first person in Germany to have an iPad. Apple officials said the other versions of the device should be released by late April.
