Angelenos are certainly known for going against the grain and creating their own trends (let's remember trucker hats and flip flops), but dissing lines for the new iPad?
Giveaway: Are you too cool? NBC 4's Fritz Coleman will wait in line for you
Twenty-four hours before the new device goes on sale, there were no lines at four of the largest Apple stores in the Southland. But, by late Thursday night, diehard fans were starting to camp out.
Apple execs may have been glad to see the late night interest. Earllier in the day there were no tents in Pasadena. No sleeping bags on the promenade in Santa Monica. No assistants forced to wait overnight for eager tech-savvy bosses at the Grove or the Beverly Center in West Hollywood.
"Nothing yet," said an Apple associate who asked not be identified. "We usually have a few die-hards by now."
What's up? Preorder.
At least that is what most Facebook followers thought when NBCLA posed the question on its Facebook page.
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"Everyone I know in L.A. ordered online," wrote Sue Custodio.
"Why wait when you can pre-order off the internet?" asked Alyssa Hill.
Internet preorders for Friday sold out a few days after they went on sale March 8, and there were more than 1 million sold.
But Apple and their partner stores still plan to have extra devices for sale on launch day. It's unclear how many each store will get.
What is clear is that Apple fans are lining up across the world to snag those extra iPads, except in Los Angeles.
Fans started to stake out Apple stores in London March 9, in Paris March 10, and in Hong Kong and Tokyo on March 12.
On the East coast, fans started lining up at Apple's NYC flagship store March 14.
Still, L.A. techies are refusing to step in line, pun intended.
"We have become jaded," Oscar Triana posted on Facebook. "I think L.A. folk won't jump for every new device unless its a siginicant upgrade."
But is it really disinterest behind the lack of lines?
"I just think we wait until the last minute," Ashley Garcia wrote on Facebook. "It's been so sunny outside, who wants to wait in line? I'm sure they'll be a line starting at midnight."
If they don't, they could be waiting awhile. Financial analyst Michael Walkley with Canaccord Genuity reported that Apple has broken all the company's preorder records and it could take up to three weeks to ship to the U.S.
Walkley predicts Apple will sell 65 million devices by the end of the year.
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