Did You Get Your iPad on Black Friday?

Apple was pretty secretive on their Black friday sale. Target seemed to be the best option for an iPad this week and people stood in line for their black friday deal as early as 8 PM Thursday night. So did you get a new iPad Air or iPad mini?

After scouring the ads, I chose to stand in line at Target last night. They offered a $100 gift card with purchase of an iPad Air or $75 for an iPad mini. I got there at 7:50 expecting about 25-30% of the crowd was heading toward the iPad line.

Walmart offered $100 gift cards for iPad mini. Best Buy also had a gift card deal. Apple store only had a $75 card, didn’t advertise their deals and also didn’t give any deal for a Retina mini. So hopefully the 20% waiting in front of me for iPads won’t deplete the inventory too bad.

Once the doors opened, the line moved quicker than a one horse open sleigh. Of course, that was the first line. The second line was the true wait – people anxious for their iPads for the holidays.

What was interesting was the people I talked to in line already had iPads. This was either an upgrade or they wanted to get a second tablet for their families. One person was waiting for a Nexus 10 tablet, but decided to get the iPad as well.

Target was also ready for this event as most people got the iPad they wanted. They did run out of 16 GB iPad Air at about 9:30 PM. I was in line for a 32 GB model anyway and I saw a lot of iPad minis getting sold, too.  You could even get 2nd and 4th generation iPads that night.

I tweeted VegasBill during the event, who also was waiting in a Target store line in Vegas. I shouted out “This is what it will look like in a couple hours”.

Black Friday Line For Electronics Only Minutes After Target Doors Open. #Vegas #BlackFriday pic.twitter.com/GPIvdLyAdI

— Vegas BiLL (@VegasBiLL) November 29, 2013

I don’t normally do Black Friday. Those years I did, I was always disappointed because it was 4 in the morning and we would have to wait 6-8 weeks for rebates of specials.

This year was a bit different. I wasn’t too upset on the 2+ hour wait and I got the iPad Air I was looking for. Best part – I got a gift card which I could use at that moment if I wanted.

I did suggest that next year Target should talk with Starbucks and get a mobile barista to stand at the iPad line selling coffee…