Our latest Alternative Report was prompted by a question “How many people would queue for the iPad launch in London?” The answer, as the doors opened, was 451.
As you’ll see below, we also got some 63336 researchers to churn some stats on what people were buying, what clothes they owned, and how they measured up to Steve Jobs. Of course, whilst we were there, we took the opportunity to hand out books, t-shirts and bananas to the people waiting patiently for their latest slice of Apple technology. This resulted in Jake Lee, the first to go through the doors, being photographed for the UK’s newpapers wearing our 63336 t-shirt.
Q. How many people in the queue don’t own a Mac?
A. 25% in the queue just used PCs. 38% owned a Mac and 37% owned both. Everyone owned a computer of some sort. Jake Lee, first in the queue, owns a Dell Vostro 1510 laptop, Mac G4 and eMac.
Q. What is the average age of the iPad customer?
A. 36% were aged 26–39. 18–25s were the next-largest group with 26%. 11% were older than Steve Jobs at 56 or over.
Q. How many people had actually seen or tried out an iPad before buying it?
A. Only 44% in the queue had ever tried an iPad before. The majority – 56% – were buying the product based on reviews, international success and a blind faith in Apple products.
Q. Why did people queue at the Apple Store on Regent St?
A. Most queued for the atmosphere and ‘to be there’ (44%), whilst only 2% admitted to being die-hard Mac fans. Interestingly, 25% wrongly assumed the iPad would only be available from the Apple Store – it is available nationwide in Currys and Dixons today too.
Q. How many women were in the queue?
A. Only 8% of the queue for the iPad were women. Of the 92% of men in the queue, 16% had beards. 5% of everybody in the queue admitted to owning a pair of ‘John Lennon’ circular glasses, made doubly famous by Jobs.
Q. But what is the point of an iPad, according to the first UK queue?
A. 57% said they’d use if for browsing the net as their No.1 purpose. 27% said for them, it was for Apps – with 12% being for games alone. 9% will use it mostly for listening to music and just 4% for reading books. Watching films and TV came in at 3%.
