We’ve received reports this morning that Apple will be opening Retail Stores one hour early tomorrow for iPad sales. While no official announcement has been forthcoming from Apple, anecdotal reports from shoppers across the country trying get an iPad 2 this morning, say they were told by retail staff that even if the Apple Stores were re-stocked today, the iPad 2 would not be sold until tomorrow and for this reason, the Stores would open early for dedicated iPad 2 sales. We have confirmed this with three retail stores.
For many stores this would mean a 9am opening time. It is likely that Apple is coordinating the sales this way so that they can manage crowd control rather than first-come first-served at various times today. Additionally, more media coverage of a second bout of queued shoppers for the iPad 2 won’t hurt publicity.
There is no word yet if any Apple Stores have received shipments today but post in the comments if you hear anything.
Thanks to all the folk who tipped us.
Update: One of the stores that we spoke to earlier has changed their tune a little and are now saying they don’t know if they’ll receive a shipment today. However, the other two are still opening early. Other readers have now e-mailed to say their local store is opening an hour early so it is worth calling your local store to check if they are one of the ones that will be opening ahead of normal time. We’ll update as soon as we hear anything else.
Update 2: We are receiving emails this morning saying that many stores are opening early but didn’t get the shipments they expected. We will post more as soon as we know.
