People who don’t need the iPad lined up for hours to get one last Saturday, the first day that touch-screen media player went on sale nationwide.
Some waited on line for three hours at the Best Buy on Bay Parkway in Bensonhurst — one of only two Brooklyn locations that was selling the cool, but apprently not so vital, device.
“Basically, I’m buying it because Steve Jobs told me I need it,” Bay Ridge resident Brian Halpin said. “There really is no reason why I need this.”
About 12 other Mac enthusiasts — all men — greeted UPS drivers with rock star cheers as they rolled up to the Bensonhurst store with 13 boxes stuffed full of factory-fresh iPads at about 9:10 am.
Tom Kiser, a minister and 20-year Mac user from Sea Gate was first on line.
“I’m tired of hauling my 17-inch Powerbook all the time,” he said. “I’ve got an iPhone 3GS that does phenomenal stuff, but I can’t do presentations with it and I see the iPad as filling that niche in the middle.”
Capturing the prevailing mood, Bensonhurst resident John Cusimano admitted that he wasn’t interested in owning an iPad — until the hype took over.
“When the time comes, it’s exciting, and you want to be the first one to have a new product,” he said.
Asked if he feared being burned given Apple’s history of quickly slashing prices and adding additional features to new products, Halpin said absolutely not.
“I’ve got an iPhone and I’ve got a MacBook, but I thought the other day, ‘Wow! This looks like a cool damned thing to get. So I’m just going to buy it,’ ” he said.
Brooklyn’s other Best Buy located inside the Gateway Center mall near Starrett City was the only other place in the borough offering buyers first crack at the dandy device.
