Despite extreme jet lag, the two stood their ground in the long, long… looong queue and were among the lucky few who got their hands on the first models of this truly “magical and revolutionary device”.
Looking back at the experience Kishyr Ramdial says that one of the best parts of the trip was actually stepping into the 5th Avenue Apple Store once its doors opened at 9am
“Apple don’t only sell awesome devices in their store, they create experience for their customers – memories that will last a life time. I can’t actually describe how tremendously exciting it was to walk through the doors of “the cube” (the nickname for the 5th Avenue store), down the glass-staircase and be cheered on by hundreds of Apple Store employees.
“They make you feel like you’re a winner, a champion, their only customer. And that experience stays with you through your entire time at the store. There’s always an Apple Store employee (they call them “Geniuses”) with you from the moment you walk in, to the moment you leave the store, guiding you through your Apple journey – customer service at its best.”
Looking at what he could have done without, Ramdial says the worst part of their trip was the 20-plus hour journey from Durban to Joburg; to Dakar, Senegal; to JKF International Airport in New York. “Although, with iPad in hand, the flight home back was tantalizingly more fun!”
All that is just a distant memory though as Kishyr ponders a world with iPad and says: “Welcome to the future of computing, where user interfaces can be fun, while still having lots of detail and depth; where specs don’t matter, and user experience does. This device alone is going to revolutionise the way we think about computing, interfaces and user experience for the better.” Viva iPad! Viva!