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Version 1 Version 2
New iPad goes on sale: thousands queue around the globe New iPad goes on sale: thousands queue around the globe
(7 months later)
Gadget fans have been camping outside Apple stores in London, Sydney and Tokyo to be among the first to get their hands on the new iPad.Gadget fans have been camping outside Apple stores in London, Sydney and Tokyo to be among the first to get their hands on the new iPad.
The third version of Apple's popular tablet computer will also go on sale in the US and several other countries on Friday.The third version of Apple's popular tablet computer will also go on sale in the US and several other countries on Friday.
Some people have spent days queuing outside the Apple store in London's Regent Street, which opened at 8am, and more arrived in the early hours of Friday morning.Some people have spent days queuing outside the Apple store in London's Regent Street, which opened at 8am, and more arrived in the early hours of Friday morning.
The new model iPad comes with a faster processor and a much sharper screen, as well as voice dictation and an improved camera, similar to that of the iPhone 4S. It ranges in price from £399 to £659.The new model iPad comes with a faster processor and a much sharper screen, as well as voice dictation and an improved camera, similar to that of the iPhone 4S. It ranges in price from £399 to £659.
First in the queue was Zohaib Ali, 21, from Uxbridge in north-west London, who waited for five days and already owns an iPad, iPhone, iPod, Macbook and iMac.First in the queue was Zohaib Ali, 21, from Uxbridge in north-west London, who waited for five days and already owns an iPad, iPhone, iPod, Macbook and iMac.
"The iPad is the best product of the year and there won't be any more until 2013 so I am happy to queue. I love Apple products," he said."The iPad is the best product of the year and there won't be any more until 2013 so I am happy to queue. I love Apple products," he said.
Men outnumbered women 10:1, and the average age of those in the queue was 25. It was a queue of confirmed technophiles, each carrying £1,217 worth of electronic gadgets, from iPods to smartphones and laptops.Men outnumbered women 10:1, and the average age of those in the queue was 25. It was a queue of confirmed technophiles, each carrying £1,217 worth of electronic gadgets, from iPods to smartphones and laptops.
Those waiting were handed free food and drink by companies they had contacted through Twitter.Those waiting were handed free food and drink by companies they had contacted through Twitter.
Noah Green, a 16-year-old student from Stanmore, north-west London, had been fourth in the queue but took £300 to move back.Noah Green, a 16-year-old student from Stanmore, north-west London, had been fourth in the queue but took £300 to move back.
He said: "It is worth it. I am still 18th in the queue so I will be one of the first to buy an iPad. I am going to sell it though and earn some money."He said: "It is worth it. I am still 18th in the queue so I will be one of the first to buy an iPad. I am going to sell it though and earn some money."
When asked why they were queuing, almost a third – 32% – said they were die-hard Apple fans, followed by 27% who said they had returned after queuing for earlier generation iPads, according to gadget insurer Protectyourbubble.com.When asked why they were queuing, almost a third – 32% – said they were die-hard Apple fans, followed by 27% who said they had returned after queuing for earlier generation iPads, according to gadget insurer Protectyourbubble.com.
Meanwhile, 15% said they were waiting because they had missed out on pre-orders, and 10% were there to soak up the atmosphere. There were fewer people waiting in line than for the iPad 2 launch, probably because Apple has opened another store in Covent Garden.Meanwhile, 15% said they were waiting because they had missed out on pre-orders, and 10% were there to soak up the atmosphere. There were fewer people waiting in line than for the iPad 2 launch, probably because Apple has opened another store in Covent Garden.
In Sydney, David Tarasenko, a 34-year-old construction manager who was the first to pick up the iPad from a Telstra store at midnight, said ever since Apple chief executive Tim Cook had revealed the tablet's third iteration, he couldn't wait to get one.In Sydney, David Tarasenko, a 34-year-old construction manager who was the first to pick up the iPad from a Telstra store at midnight, said ever since Apple chief executive Tim Cook had revealed the tablet's third iteration, he couldn't wait to get one.
"When Tim Cook announced it, it sounded like such a magical tool. I just got hyped into it, I guess," he said. He bought one with 4G mobile broadband capability – although warning stickers on the box say that that specific functionality will not work with Australia's networks."When Tim Cook announced it, it sounded like such a magical tool. I just got hyped into it, I guess," he said. He bought one with 4G mobile broadband capability – although warning stickers on the box say that that specific functionality will not work with Australia's networks.
About 450 people queued outside Apple's Ginza store in downtown Tokyo. Some slept outside the store to be at the front of the queue when it opened at 8am, two hours earlier than usual.About 450 people queued outside Apple's Ginza store in downtown Tokyo. Some slept outside the store to be at the front of the queue when it opened at 8am, two hours earlier than usual.
The excitement has benefited Apple's stock, which briefly touched $600 (£381) for the first time on Thursday. Apple is the world's most valuable company, with a market cap of nearly $555bn.The excitement has benefited Apple's stock, which briefly touched $600 (£381) for the first time on Thursday. Apple is the world's most valuable company, with a market cap of nearly $555bn.
Two years after the debut of the first iPad, the launch of a new version has become the second-biggest "gadget event" of the year, after the annual iPhone release.Two years after the debut of the first iPad, the launch of a new version has become the second-biggest "gadget event" of the year, after the annual iPhone release.
A year ago, thousands lined up outside the flagship Apple store on New York's Fifth Avenue. The tablet computer sold out on launch day, even though it did not go on sale until 5pm.A year ago, thousands lined up outside the flagship Apple store on New York's Fifth Avenue. The tablet computer sold out on launch day, even though it did not go on sale until 5pm.
In Hong Kong, a steady stream of buyers picked up their new devices at preset times at the city's only Apple store. The system, which required buyers to have local ID cards, helped thwart attempts by visitors from mainland China to scoop up gadgets early and avoid sales tax at home. The iPad's release date in China has not been announced yet.In Hong Kong, a steady stream of buyers picked up their new devices at preset times at the city's only Apple store. The system, which required buyers to have local ID cards, helped thwart attempts by visitors from mainland China to scoop up gadgets early and avoid sales tax at home. The iPad's release date in China has not been announced yet.
Those who placed orders online will have to wait for two to three weeks for delivery. Apple quickly ran out of supplies it set aside for advance orders.Those who placed orders online will have to wait for two to three weeks for delivery. Apple quickly ran out of supplies it set aside for advance orders.
The new tablet is called "the new iPad," rather than "iPad 3". This is consistent with Apple's naming practice for iPods, MacBooks and iMacs, but a break with the way iPhone models are named.The new tablet is called "the new iPad," rather than "iPad 3". This is consistent with Apple's naming practice for iPods, MacBooks and iMacs, but a break with the way iPhone models are named.
Despite competition from cheaper tablet computers such as Amazon.com's Kindle Fire, the iPad remains the most popular tablet. Apple has sold more than 55m iPads since its debut in 2010, including some 40m last year, and is estimated to have more than 60% of the tablet market.Despite competition from cheaper tablet computers such as Amazon.com's Kindle Fire, the iPad remains the most popular tablet. Apple has sold more than 55m iPads since its debut in 2010, including some 40m last year, and is estimated to have more than 60% of the tablet market.
Wall Street expects a strong start for the latest iPad and some analysts even expect sales of the current model to overtake the iPad 2. Apple will continue to sell the iPad 2 but dropped its price by $100 to start at $399.Wall Street expects a strong start for the latest iPad and some analysts even expect sales of the current model to overtake the iPad 2. Apple will continue to sell the iPad 2 but dropped its price by $100 to start at $399.
Sam Noble, of digital marketing specialist Koozai, said: "People queuing for days on end on Regent Street is not just a curiosity among consumers, but a precursor to fundamental change in the way companies and consumers interact.Sam Noble, of digital marketing specialist Koozai, said: "People queuing for days on end on Regent Street is not just a curiosity among consumers, but a precursor to fundamental change in the way companies and consumers interact.
"Tablets and mobile devices are rapidly overtaking desktop PCs as the preferred way people consume content online, so companies need to shape their content and campaigns accordingly. Few are doing so despite the fact that change is staring them in the face. Are their websites and PPC strategies optimised for tablets and mobile devices?""Tablets and mobile devices are rapidly overtaking desktop PCs as the preferred way people consume content online, so companies need to shape their content and campaigns accordingly. Few are doing so despite the fact that change is staring them in the face. Are their websites and PPC strategies optimised for tablets and mobile devices?"
Online reviews of the new iPad have overwhelmingly praised Apple for its improved screen resolution.Online reviews of the new iPad have overwhelmingly praised Apple for its improved screen resolution.
"My epiphany came when I placed my iPad 2 next to the new model, with the same text on the screen. Letters and words that had seemed sharp on the older model five minutes earlier suddenly looked fuzzier," said Walt Mossberg at the AllThingsD website."My epiphany came when I placed my iPad 2 next to the new model, with the same text on the screen. Letters and words that had seemed sharp on the older model five minutes earlier suddenly looked fuzzier," said Walt Mossberg at the AllThingsD website.
The inner workings of the iPad are similar to previous models, based on a teardown by the Californian gadget-repair firm iFixit, one of whose team queued up in Australia to get one of the new tablets and quickly took it apart.The inner workings of the iPad are similar to previous models, based on a teardown by the Californian gadget-repair firm iFixit, one of whose team queued up in Australia to get one of the new tablets and quickly took it apart.
iFixit cofounder Luke Soules found Apple suppliers Qualcomm, Broadcom and Samsung had maintained their key roles in the newest iPad. It includes a Qualcomm LTE cellphone chip and a Qualcomm wireless modem for 3G and 4G. Broadcom supplies a semiconductor handling wireless tasks like WiFi and Bluetooth, according to iFixit.iFixit cofounder Luke Soules found Apple suppliers Qualcomm, Broadcom and Samsung had maintained their key roles in the newest iPad. It includes a Qualcomm LTE cellphone chip and a Qualcomm wireless modem for 3G and 4G. Broadcom supplies a semiconductor handling wireless tasks like WiFi and Bluetooth, according to iFixit.
Comments
202 comments, displaying first
16 March 2012 9:26AM
I know it gets asked again and again, but should the Guardian not be calling these 'articles' advertising features?
I've seen two stories about the new iPad on the Guardian website already this morning, after numerous stories over the past couple of weeks.
Does any other brand get such privileged treatment? Is Apple paying for this?
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16 March 2012 9:38AM
If everyone is buying them, maybe they were right to include them in the inflation statistics...
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16 March 2012 9:41AM
I am writing to ask for your comments regarding the recent reports of exploitation of Apple workers.
I have read that as these workers come from such appalling conditions they are happy to work a 70 hour week with no break and it would be a cruelty to take this opportunity to earn enough for a decent standard of living away from them.
Is your view? It seems to me that the answer would be to pay them a greater hourly rate so they could work a humane number of hours and have a decent standard of living. Surely the fact that these people suffer unthinkable living conditions at home doesn't justify further exploitation.
I use Apple products and love them. I would be very willing to pay more for them to ensure that those who make them can enjoy life as much as I do.
Please ask Apple what steps they are taking to give their foreign workers living and working conditions as good as ours.
Apple Customer Care 08442090611
Apple Customer Relations 18006762775
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16 March 2012 9:41AM
Sad Gits
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16 March 2012 9:42AM
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16 March 2012 9:50AM
I can't think why people have been queuing up overnight or for days on end. I arrived at the Apple premium reseller in Oxford about an hour and a half before opening time today and I was fourth in line. I could easily have turned up just a few minutes earlier.
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16 March 2012 9:52AM
What a bunch of loosers to que up for hours to buy an ipad.These people have nothing else do better ?
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16 March 2012 9:54AM
I do have some sympathy with the comments on The Guardian's supposed Apple-bias; although there's clearly a public interest in the launch of new Apple products, it would be nice to see some new and reviews of other non-Apple technology releases.
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16 March 2012 9:55AM
If the definition of 'everyone' has to include me, then it is not accurate.
I have a Asus Transformer with keyboard docking and am very happy with it. I don't want locked in proprietary hardware and while Android still isn't that good, it certainly is getting much, much better per release.
So you may have to change that to 'a lot of people' and anyway, the fuckwits at the ONS know nothing about inflation nor calculating it so anything can be put in.
I suggest Atari VCS games cartridges, that will get the overall figure down and help meet their 2% target.
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16 March 2012 9:59AM
@onerandomreader
I suppose if they've already learnt to spell correctly, then no.
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16 March 2012 10:01AM
Apple haters out in full swing today, say what you like I love the new iPad.
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16 March 2012 10:02AM
I'm going to get one at some point, they make great products, but...
I just went to look at my local Apple store before going to work. The employees were stood gathered by the front doors, and every time a customer came out carrying a new iPad, the blue-shirted cheerleaders all applauded and whooped with forced enthusiasm. It happened like clockwork every twenty seconds. Each nerd customer had a mortified expression on their face. It was quite uncomfortable to be near to, like watching happy-clappy religious types in full flow.
There's no frigging way I'm going to buy something under those circumstances.
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16 March 2012 10:03AM
It's hardly surprising that the Guardian runs so many articles about iPads. Yesterday's article stayed consistently near the top of the list of most read articles on this site.
Of course those who insist on clicking on the article to register their outrage will further boost the already large numbers and make more similar articles inevitable.
The new iPad is certainly newsworthy. If Apple had decided to release in iPad pro, it might have had a high definition screen, faster processor and more RAM and an iPad pro might have sold for maybe $500 more than a standard iPad. What Apple have released is what might have been that iPad pro, but at the same price as before. That's going to be a very tough prospect for other tablets to catch up with and an even bigger challenge to match that price too.
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16 March 2012 10:06AM
These queues were news the first time they happened, but The Guardian reports them with every product release. Along with the extended fawning reviews, extended speculation, extended coverage of product releases and comparative dismissal of rival companies and products, it has become part of The Guardian's PR campaign for Apple.
This isn't a Technology section, it's an Apple section. The partiality is now beyond ridiculous. And I say that as someone who likes and owns Apple products.
Get some balance or declare your interests.
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16 March 2012 10:07AM
Amazing how Apple does not have to do any sort of advertising now. Newspapers do that for free. The Guardian, the FT, Le Monde had big headlines about Apple on their websites on the day the new IPad was announced. Why? Journalists, answer that simple question. Why?
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16 March 2012 10:12AM
*clears throat*..... NEEEEEERRRRRRRRRDDDDDDDDDDDDDSSSSSSSSS!
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16 March 2012 10:12AM
I'm not that interested in the product but find it oddly fascinating that people will queue to get one of these products. In an age of capitalism, queuing for goods is rather quaint, like a visit to the Post Office or a scene from a bakery in 1970s Russia. The difference this time is that this is a manufactured event, rather than a mismatch of demand and supply.
Above all though it is depressing that people seem to herald the arrival of a new model of computer as something important; an alien would think the photo above captures the first person to get a new anti-cancer vaccine.
The first iPod, iPhone and iPad were significant changes in consumer technology, a model with an improved screen is like a washing powder offering to wash white. It might, but only if you look closely.
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16 March 2012 10:13AM
When the ipad 2 was released (and probably for other versions, but I can't speak to that) there was the same queue phenomenon with Apple staff high fiving and cheering. The queue was huge.
It was incredibly offputting. Like some bizarre cult, as danielearwicker says. It felt like instead of buying a consumer electronics device I was being invited to buy a faith.
I walked over from Covent Garden to PCWorld near Tottenham Court road and bought it there instead. Day of release still, but no queue and no line of staff acting as if I'd just returned from the first manned mission to Mars.It's a good product and I'm very happy with it, but the day of release queues and cheering do have a distinct whiff of odd to them, and are deeply artificial given you can generally buy the devices elsewhere same day with none of that.
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16 March 2012 10:13AM
This article seems at first unable to decide whether it is news or informercial before very soon plumping for the latter...
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16 March 2012 10:14AM
Look at the creepy cultists in the background cheering him on. It's truly bizarre.
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16 March 2012 10:20AM
Have to remind all of the brilliant Samsung rip off advert they done for the iphone4G
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6h5JSojJN3Y
Especially the line "I can't use a Samsung, I'm a creative." / "Dude, you're a barista"
What fools queuing for a Commoditised tablet item.
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16 March 2012 10:22AM
Somewhere in the world, an Apple-ite is caressing at his new device and is literally, yes literally, creaming his pants right now.
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16 March 2012 10:23AM
"When Tim Cook announced it, it sounded like such a magical tool. I just got hyped into it, I guess," he said
Another sheep checks in at the consumerist abatoir. Merits of the device aside, this bloke sounds like a tool of the non-magical kind.
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16 March 2012 10:24AM
They're employees. That's part of their job. It doesn't mean they mean it.
Have a nice day.
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16 March 2012 10:28AM
I just bought an iPad 3 here in Australia so I could leave Guardian comments without leaving my chair or country.
Anyway, there were no queues and plenty of stock. I even got a decent discount. Queues and stockouts are just part of the hype.
Quite a nice machine though.
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16 March 2012 10:31AM

"When Tim Cook announced it, it sounded like such a magical tool. I just got hyped into it, I guess," he said. He bought one with 4G mobile broadband capability – although warning stickers on the box say that that specific functionality will not work with Australia's networks.
Seems odd buying something that doesn't work where you live! Maybe he plans to travel to somewhere that has 4G that works with it. Could be the reality distortion field also I suppose!!!
Can you imagine if an Android/Windows 8 tablet came out with stickers on saying this we'd have a massive Guardian Article criticising them!
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16 March 2012 10:34AM
I can't think why people have been queuing up overnight or for days on end. I arrived at the Apple premium reseller in Oxford about an hour and a half before opening time today and I was fourth in line. I could easily have turned up just a few minutes earlier.
You arrived early yourself to queue and you're asking why people are queuing? Aren't you the best person to answer that question? You're suffering from the same affliction they are - just to a slightly lesser extent.
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16 March 2012 10:37AM
I know it gets asked again and again, but should the Guardian not be calling these 'articles' advertising features?
I've seen two stories about the new iPad on the Guardian website already this morning, after numerous stories over the past couple of weeks.
Does any other brand get such privileged treatment? Is Apple paying for this?

When Microsoft bring out a new version of Windows they get reported on too, oh and if Apple were so favoured wuld we not see high profile reports for MacOS related developments/launches too? We don't because that part of Apple is still too niche, while the iPhone & iPad are mainstream.
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16 March 2012 10:40AM
The tablet is 3g and 4g.
So if you don't want the wifi only version, you get the 3g one that also has the 4g chipset.
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16 March 2012 10:42AM
That's an insult to nerds! I'm a fully fledged nerd - Oracle DBA with history of building my own machines and programming.
Apples are for people who don't understand computers. They're people who want to be seen with the latest fad. The opposite of nerds!
As someone in the article said - "this is a fantastic tool". Anyone who works in IT knows that it's a "tool" to play Angry Birds on. Nothing more.
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16 March 2012 10:45AM
I like Apple stuff, but anyone who queues overnight to buy it is a sad idiot.
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16 March 2012 10:48AM
I'll bet that most Apple store employees are sincere fans of the company's products. There are enough enthusiastic Mac/iPhone owners and fans of Jobs/Ive's views on design to serve as a recruiting pool, and I doubt that, in this case, Apple would hire customer-facing employees who couldn't at least give a convincing history of the Apple products/services they've used and articulate what they liked about the products.
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16 March 2012 10:52AM
It's more to do with driving traffic surely? Like it or not millions of people are searching for iPad3 related content so the Guardian makes sure they have plenty of it.
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16 March 2012 10:53AM
For those complaining about the Ipad coverage, does that mean that the Guardian should stop its excellent reporting of the Raspberry PI as well as, you know, the evil capitalist manufacturers of this delicious little computer will likely make a small profit.
Maybe it would be better for the antagonists on this page just to stop reading the technology news and get back to rant on the Telegraph's 'society' pages?
Just a thought.
FB
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16 March 2012 10:55AM
Apples are for people who don't understand computers. They're people who want to be seen with the latest fad. The opposite of nerds!
This stereotype is about a decade out of date. It used to be the case in the OS9 days; it's no longer so. I have worked in a number of IT firms, and with the exception of one guy who did low-level GPU coding, everyone I've worked with was a Mac owner. These days, a MacBook gets you a solidly built, well designed machine which runs a UNIX-based operating system (important for various types of developers and sysadmins), and, with Apple's component-buying clout, is cheaper than comparable solutions from other firms (in terms of specs and build quality). I've even seen people who need to use Windows do so on Apple machines because the hardware is better than comparable Dell/HP/Sony devices.
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16 March 2012 10:55AM
Picture above.
Ah, at least one of the 99% has some cash.
Cool.
Style of thing
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16 March 2012 10:55AM
LOL. Queuing to buy the original iPhone or even iPhone 3G is understandable. They were groundbreaking.
But the new iPad? hmmm. It not like they are going to be sold out anytime soon such as concert tickets where there is a fixed amount available. I am sure the factories are on full steam right now churning out as many iPads as they can to meet demand.
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16 March 2012 10:57AM
The weird noises the Apple staff were making outside the Covent Garden store this morning were made all the more weird by the fact that most of the purchasers had three or four iPads each and were clearly being paid to queue, buy and courier them to other parts of the world... Definite mis-match between reality and hype here.
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16 March 2012 10:57AM
Yeps! Nerds buy a mac but use windows on it!
Posers buy it to surf facebook at starbucks.
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16 March 2012 10:58AM
if there is one thing that is insane, it is a man (or woman) leaving a shop with a consumer good held above their head like they have won the world cup
this type of thing puts the ipad on par with a cabbage patch doll
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16 March 2012 10:59AM
Yes I'm aware of that!
Surely one of its key new features, faster mobile internet doesn't work in certain countries, makes it even less of an essential upgrade.
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16 March 2012 11:00AM
Everyone that is slating people who que for a few hours to get their hands on the new iPad, grow some balls! What's wrong with people having a genuine interest, I get excited about new tech products, how they work and whats inside them. I find it interesting. So what if these people are massive Nerds. You people are massive Nobs.
Can't wait to get my hands on my pre-ordered iPad! :)
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16 March 2012 11:02AM
officetramp,
That does make it all a bit more pointless, yes. It's a very US import that whole cheering the buyers thing. I can see in a US context it might make some cultural sense, over in the UK not so much.
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16 March 2012 11:05AM
Your not a nerd - your a snob, its quite different
The Mac in front of me is busy working away on SQL / Payment gateway - I've got various editors running while I tweak the PHP pages - hardly a Toy
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16 March 2012 11:06AM
You arrived early yourself to queue and you're asking why people are queuing? Aren't you the best person to answer that question? You're suffering from the same affliction they are - just to a slightly lesser extent.
It's one thing to wait in a small queue for an hour or so for something you'd like to get (or in my case, which my wife would like to get), especially when it won't be available afterwards for a good couple of weeks. That's no affliction. It's quite another to spend literally days camped out on the pavement. My point was that it's not even necessary. The Apple stores in Regent Street and Covent Garden aren't the only places to get one, although of course the papers like to print pictures of the absurd queues there.
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16 March 2012 11:07AM
Dunno
I'd rather be out buying new kit than making snide remarks about a machine I've not used or even held yet.
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16 March 2012 11:08AM
By the way, where I was, there was no whooping, high-fiving, or being made to grin like a loon in front of all the shop staff. It was much more low-key and friendlier than that. Perhaps because it was a premium reseller rather than an actual Apple store, they're a bit more normal.
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16 March 2012 11:10AM
Apple. Larger than Exxon. The largest corporate entity ever seen.
Now larger than Switzerland, or Saudi, or Sweden (market cap v GDP).
It will get larger still when it transforms the television industry.
Welcome to the world of Apple.
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16 March 2012 11:16AM
Of course those who insist on clicking on the article to register their outrage will further boost the already large numbers and make more similar articles inevitable
Just because I click on a story about Syria doesn't mean I endorse the situation.
I understand the cavalcade of articles, clicks=cash and iPad is HOT HOT HOT! But if they want the tech section to have all the credibility of the Daily Mail right hand celeb column go right ahead.
In a way I don't mind the blanket coverage, it's just the 100% positive nature that doesn't sit right. Has any article given any pause for thought about where these are made, by whom? At times it feels like reading a state run media outlet.
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16 March 2012 11:19AM
Must.....buy.....ipad.....must.....consume....more....Apple.......
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As the third version of Apple's popular tablet computer goes on sale, the company's stock price hits $600 for the first time
Gadget fans have been camping outside Apple stores in London, Sydney and Tokyo to be among the first to get their hands on the new iPad.
The third version of Apple's popular tablet computer will also go on sale in the US and several other countries on Friday.
Some people have spent days queuing outside the Apple store in London's Regent Street, which opened at 8am, and more arrived in the early hours of Friday morning.
The new model iPad comes with a faster processor and a much sharper screen, as well as voice dictation and an improved camera, similar to that of the iPhone 4S. It ranges in price from £399 to £659.
First in the queue was Zohaib Ali, 21, from Uxbridge in north-west London, who waited for five days and already owns an iPad, iPhone, iPod, Macbook and iMac.
"The iPad is the best product of the year and there won't be any more until 2013 so I am happy to queue. I love Apple products," he said.
Men outnumbered women 10:1, and the average age of those in the queue was 25. It was a queue of confirmed technophiles, each carrying £1,217 worth of electronic gadgets, from iPods to smartphones and laptops.
Those waiting were handed free food and drink by companies they had contacted through Twitter.
Noah Green, a 16-year-old student from Stanmore, north-west London, had been fourth in the queue but took £300 to move back.
He said: "It is worth it. I am still 18th in the queue so I will be one of the first to buy an iPad. I am going to sell it though and earn some money."
When asked why they were queuing, almost a third – 32% – said they were die-hard Apple fans, followed by 27% who said they had returned after queuing for earlier generation iPads, according to gadget insurer Protectyourbubble.com.
Meanwhile, 15% said they were waiting because they had missed out on pre-orders, and 10% were there to soak up the atmosphere. There were fewer people waiting in line than for the iPad 2 launch, probably because Apple has opened another store in Covent Garden.
In Sydney, David Tarasenko, a 34-year-old construction manager who was the first to pick up the iPad from a Telstra store at midnight, said ever since Apple chief executive Tim Cook had revealed the tablet's third iteration, he couldn't wait to get one.
"When Tim Cook announced it, it sounded like such a magical tool. I just got hyped into it, I guess," he said. He bought one with 4G mobile broadband capability – although warning stickers on the box say that that specific functionality will not work with Australia's networks.
About 450 people queued outside Apple's Ginza store in downtown Tokyo. Some slept outside the store to be at the front of the queue when it opened at 8am, two hours earlier than usual.
The excitement has benefited Apple's stock, which briefly touched $600 (£381) for the first time on Thursday. Apple is the world's most valuable company, with a market cap of nearly $555bn.
Two years after the debut of the first iPad, the launch of a new version has become the second-biggest "gadget event" of the year, after the annual iPhone release.
A year ago, thousands lined up outside the flagship Apple store on New York's Fifth Avenue. The tablet computer sold out on launch day, even though it did not go on sale until 5pm.
In Hong Kong, a steady stream of buyers picked up their new devices at preset times at the city's only Apple store. The system, which required buyers to have local ID cards, helped thwart attempts by visitors from mainland China to scoop up gadgets early and avoid sales tax at home. The iPad's release date in China has not been announced yet.
Those who placed orders online will have to wait for two to three weeks for delivery. Apple quickly ran out of supplies it set aside for advance orders.
The new tablet is called "the new iPad," rather than "iPad 3". This is consistent with Apple's naming practice for iPods, MacBooks and iMacs, but a break with the way iPhone models are named.
Despite competition from cheaper tablet computers such as Amazon.com's Kindle Fire, the iPad remains the most popular tablet. Apple has sold more than 55m iPads since its debut in 2010, including some 40m last year, and is estimated to have more than 60% of the tablet market.
Wall Street expects a strong start for the latest iPad and some analysts even expect sales of the current model to overtake the iPad 2. Apple will continue to sell the iPad 2 but dropped its price by $100 to start at $399.
Sam Noble, of digital marketing specialist Koozai, said: "People queuing for days on end on Regent Street is not just a curiosity among consumers, but a precursor to fundamental change in the way companies and consumers interact.
"Tablets and mobile devices are rapidly overtaking desktop PCs as the preferred way people consume content online, so companies need to shape their content and campaigns accordingly. Few are doing so despite the fact that change is staring them in the face. Are their websites and PPC strategies optimised for tablets and mobile devices?"
Online reviews of the new iPad have overwhelmingly praised Apple for its improved screen resolution.
"My epiphany came when I placed my iPad 2 next to the new model, with the same text on the screen. Letters and words that had seemed sharp on the older model five minutes earlier suddenly looked fuzzier," said Walt Mossberg at the AllThingsD website.
The inner workings of the iPad are similar to previous models, based on a teardown by the Californian gadget-repair firm iFixit, one of whose team queued up in Australia to get one of the new tablets and quickly took it apart.
iFixit cofounder Luke Soules found Apple suppliers Qualcomm, Broadcom and Samsung had maintained their key roles in the newest iPad. It includes a Qualcomm LTE cellphone chip and a Qualcomm wireless modem for 3G and 4G. Broadcom supplies a semiconductor handling wireless tasks like WiFi and Bluetooth, according to iFixit.