We’re live outside the Apple Store on 5th Avenue in New York City where Apple has just unveiled the redesign of its iconic glass cube. This is easily one of the most recognizable Apple retail outlets in the world, and the new design makes it infinitely more elegant. There are now fewer glass panels than before and the redesign looks terrific in the morning light. A few store employees are standing outside making sure that nobody will “get fingerprints on the glass” before the grand opening. We’ll be taking more photos once the store opens but in the meantime, check out our images of Apple’s new 5th Avenue store in the gallery below.

UPDATE: The doors are now open and we’ve added almost 30 new images to the gallery, including several of the redesigned interior of the store.

The Apple iPad 2 was greeted by crowds during its debut in China on Friday morning, according to AppleInsider. Customers began lining up at about 5pm local time on Thursday, and there were hundreds of people in line by the time the store opened. Those who waited in line were allowed to leave to take one hour breaks, but anyone who spent longer was sent to the back of the queue. Scalpers also reportedly took to the streets offering the device at a relatively small markup. Chinese customers appeared to prefer the white iPad 2 over the black one, according to AppleInsider. We saw similar crowds during the U.S. debut at the New York City 5th Avenue Apple Store, where customers also started waiting in line up to 24-hours ahead of time for the device. Apple has yet to disclose its sales of the iPad 2 specifically, although it did sell 4.69 million units during the second quarter, down from the 7.33 million units it sold the quarter prior.

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We love our gadgets as much, if not more, than the next guy, but this has to be one of the most ridiculous things we’ve seen in quite some time. There’s currently a massive line forming in front of the 5th Avenue Flagship Apple Store. According to reports on the ground, the crowd is forming in anticipation of the new 2nd Generation iPhone launch. Cool, but aren’t you guys a bit early? Yeah. We thought so. While the 3G iPhone is certainly coming soon, there’s nothing whatsoever to indicate that today is the drop date. Sure, Apple might drop a huge surprise on us, but we’re guessing that the 60-some-odd folks in line are either casualties of a successful prank, foreigners looking for a “true American experience”, or just plain confused. Sheep mentality is a funny thing, folks. 

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