Our Favorite Photos on iPad Hong Kong Launch Day

No matter how hot or how early Hong Kong was up for the iPad.

We had a blast meeting and shooting all the Apple fans in Hong Kong today, so to end the week here are a few of our favorite photos that were shot this morning at the iPad launch stores in Hong Kong.

This guy we saw at the front of the line at Studio A at around 9am – this was shot at 10:30am where he is the happy customer of 2 iPads.

His buddy also picked up 2:

This guy was playing games on his iPhone while waiting in line at the DG Store in Times Square:

This guy was the very first guy to buy the very first iPad – he was hiding from the cameras all morning, but as he walked out with his 2 iPads – we caught him happy as an iClam:

Yes, iPad shoppers braved the Stairwell to Heaven in Times Square – they were lined up from 8am from the 9th floor all the way down to the 6th floor at the DG Shop in Times Square.

How rich are iPad customers? Very! Many people paid CASH for them – but then again these were probably on their way back to China – but not to Foxconn – to the less-suicide-prone, more profitable area of the Grey Market.

Still no official Apple store, but that didn’t stop DG Shop lining up and applauding the first customers into their store in Times Sqaure at 10 am – video of the door opening excitement is here.

We learned today of “Line Up Teams” – can’t get a Summer job? Apparently many people in line were paid to be there. Here is a dropoff happening right around the corner from the Apple reseller. Teams are given cash to buy their 2 iPads and then when they drop them off they get paid anywhere from HK$100-300 per iPad – which then goes to China and retails for double. And we just worked at an ice cream shop during our high school Summer break.

These guys were obviously taking the day off from work – though we’d be surprised if their bosses actually read Neonpunch. In actually fact almost anyone wearing a baseball cap is part of a syndicate of “line up gangs” and don’t want to be photographed so they can’t be identified when lining up for other launches. We estimate that half of all iPad’s bought today (which has been estimated at 5,000 units) will end up in China.

Oh we’re not finished yet with our coverage – next post will be all about the video we shot!