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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Look, there’s not too much to say here… you’re looking at an Apple iPhone 4 in white, instead of black. Yes, it’s an amazingly beautiful white handset — probably the cleanest we’ve ever seen — yes, it’s not available until tomorrow, and yes, people in Hong Kong are already lining up for it right now. But we’re just happy we can finally put all this madness behind us… after you check out our exclusive hands-on gallery, of course!

Apple’s iPad 2 goes on sale Friday in 25 countries around the world, and early reports from Australia are showing monumental lines for Apple’s latest tablet. AFP quotes an Apple fan as having waited over 53 hours in line for the iPad 2 launch in Sydney, Australia, with hundreds of people waiting behind him. In addition to Austrlia, people have lined up across the globe and most are only hours away from bringing one home from the store — if inventory holds up. The list of countries where the iPad 2 is now available includes: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Reublic, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Norway, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.

UPDATE: Hit the break for a video from Toronto, Canada sent in by a BGR reader. The video was shot of the Apple Store at the Toronto Eaton Centre, and it was taken at approximately 9:30 a.m. The iPad 2 doesn’t go on sale until 5:00 p.m.

Some analysts believe Apple may have sold close to 1 million iPad 2 units during the tablet’s debut weekend. Leading up to launch day, opening weekend sales estimates ranged from 300,000 to 600,000 units. Following nationwide sell outs, however, some analysts have upped their estimates significantly. “We would not be surprised to see Apple sell closer to 1 million iPad2s in the opening weekend,” Wedbush Securities analyst Scott Sutherland told Reuters. Apple Store locations and third-party retail partners across the country ran out of iPad 2 inventory quickly following the tablet’s 5:00 p.m. launch on Friday. Some Best Buy locations claim to have sold out of iPad 2 units and accessories within 10 minutes of making the tablet available to customers. Regarding buyer breakdown, Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry believes 60% of iPad 2 buyers were upgrading from last year’s model and the remaining 40% were first-time iPad buyers — and he believes 100% of iPad 2 buyers own at least one other Apple product. Chowdhry also thinks people preferred AT&T’s 3G model over Verizon Wireless’ iPad 2 because AT&T has better customer service.

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Piper Jaffray analyst and Apple aficionado Gene Munster has weighed in with his iPad 2 launch prognostications. Munster is predicting that the tablet, which will be available nationwide this Friday, will see sales of 5.5 million units in its opening quarter. By comparison, the iPhone 4 sold roughly 8.4 million units during its opening quarter and the original iPad sold around 3.27 million units. “Generally, the length of the lines at Apple retail stores on launch day have been a helpful early indication of demand,” quips the analyst. “However, factors like online pre-orders, simultaneous international launches, weather, timing in the day and the day of the week can all impact a consumer’s willingness to go stand in line, but may not necessarily be indicative of immediate purchase intentions.” For these reasons, Munster believes that lines at retail locations selling the iPad 2 will not be as long as those from previous Apple device launches. Friday is the day, who’s buying an iPad Deuce?

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Living on the land of the rising sun? Well, we’re jealous because the Nintendo 3DS went on sale there this morning and Nintendo is said to have swiftly moved their initial 400,000 unit stockpile pretty swiftly (including pre-orders). Lines were said to be as long as 2,000 people deep for the ¥25,000 portable gaming system, but you can’t put a price on 3D, can you? Nintendo’s 3DS launches in the US on March 27th for $349 and is backward-compatible with previous Nintendo DS games including DSi games.

Today, T-Mobile announced a new, cost-saving feature for those that have family plans and progeny called Kids Are Free. As T-Mobile explains, “With Kids Are Free, new and existing T-Mobile customers who sign up for a qualifying family plan through Nov. 2, 2010, receive free add-a-line service on up to three lines of their plan until 2012.” The press release cites a Pew Research study that found 75% of children between 12 and 17 now carry a cell phone. The limited time offer is good until November 2nd and customers will be responsible for paying all taxes, fees, and activation charges on the free lines. “The Kids Are Free promotion is the latest effort from T-Mobile to ensure families are united with compelling and affordable mobile services,” stated the press release. You can hit up T-Mo’s website for more information. The full release is after the break.

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Sept. 8, 2010 — Continuing its efforts to give families the freedom to stay connected on their terms, T-Mobile USA, Inc. today announced a new promotional offer called Kids Are Free to make family communication easy and more budget friendly. With Kids Are Free, new and existing T-Mobile customers who sign up for a qualifying family plan through Nov. 2, 2010, receive free add-a-line service on up to three lines of their plan until 2012.*

Families are busier than ever. Between soccer practice, school, time with friends and work, families are always on the go, and mobile phones provide a vital line of communication for them. According to a study published in April 2010 by the Pew Research Center, 75 percent of children ages 12 to 17 now have a cell phone.** That said, it can be a struggle for parents to balance the family budget in order to keep the whole family in touch while on the go.

“Not only is T-Mobile offering the most flexible and affordable family plans among national carriers today, we are also making it more affordable than ever for families to add their kids or other family members by eliminating the associated monthly service fee until 2012,” said Ashley White, marketing director of value offers at T-Mobile USA. “The up-front cost of purchasing new phones and dealing with monthly service fees for an entire family can add up quickly, so this promotion is designed to make it easier for families.”

The Kids are Free promotion is the latest effort from T-Mobile to ensure families are united with compelling and affordable mobile services. Additional family-friendly offers this fall include the following:

• Special deals on the latest devices. Starting today customers who purchase a Samsung Vibrant receive a second Samsung Vibrant for free after a $50 mail-in rebate with a two-year service agreement. Also, T-Mobile’s new line of messaging phones are all under $75 after a mail-in rebate with a two-year service agreement. Adding unlimited texting for the whole family is just $20 per month.
• T-Mobile’s Even More® and no annual contract Even More Plus® family plans offer customers affordable options for their family’s wireless communication. T-Mobile’s Even More family plans start at $59.99 per month and T-Mobile’s Even More Plus family plans start at just $49.99 per month.
• T-Mobile’s Family Allowances™ service lets parents set up-front monthly allowances for their family’s phone usage — minutes, messages, and downloads.

More information about T-Mobile’s Kids Are Free offer is available at http://www.t-mobile.com.

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Things have heated up quite a bit since Sprint confirmed to us that the Palm Pre is likely to be in short supply when it launches this weekend. As such, if you’re one of the many future Pre addicts who can’t wait to get your hands on Palm’s first webOS-powered device you may want to consider dusting off the old camping gear. According to tinyComb, lines for the Pre are already beginning to form outside Sprint shops. Ok fine — one guy is parked outside one shop rocking a sign that reads “First”, but who knows how many could join him before the week is through? Here’s what the anonymous Pre hound had to say:

I’ve been so disappointed with Sprint since my parents got me a plan three years ago. I hear there is only going to be four phones at each spot, and I’m getting mine!

Good luck to you, sir. Hit the jump for more shots.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

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We’ve done a quick check at around 10 Verizon corporate stores in the NY/NJ area with most of them reporting lines longer than they have stock for. That means there’s going to be 1.) A ton of pissed off people, and 2.) More pissed off people who won’t get their unit until tomorrow mid-day or possibly Tuesday. We want to know your experience, and if you did manage to snag a Storm (you lucky dog, you), we want to hear your first impressions! We also have reports that some stores are only selling to brand new Verizon customers and not doing any upgrades, which if true, is pretty disgusting. Hit us up in the comments and help out your fellow BlackBerry addicts, ok? If you just got one but there’s no line at your local store and they have some stock left, share the weath! Plus, if you’ve got a major issue you want to report, you can always hit me on the hip!

Yeah, the answer would appear to be “Yes!” Roughly 1 week before the new iPhone 3G becomes available, there seems to be a line forming in front of the 5th Avenue Apple Store. The collection of folks has formed with the specific intention of breaking the world record for longest time waiting in line. If you ask us, it’s not the most effective use of 7 days of your life, but if breaking obscure and meaningless records is your thing, you might want to jog down and latch on to this gravy train. Given the slightly diminished demand for the new iPhone relative to last year’s bum rush, coupled with Apple’s tendency to meet initial consumer demand for new products, we don’t think you’ll need to hit the line more than 30 minutes or so before the doors open to secure a handset on the 11th, but extreme measures never hurt a soul, right? Unless you’re an infant waiting in line because you parents forced you so you could break the above meaningless world record.

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