iPad Mania Sweeps Across Seattle As People Race To Get Apple's New Gizmo

iPad mania is swarming across America. Thousands lined up around the country today to be the first ones to buy Apple's newest invention. In New York, LA, and right here in Seattle people camped out for hours and even days to get their hands on Apple's brand new IPad.

At the University Village Apple Store in Seattle people braved the cold and lined up around the block to get their new touch-screen computer tablet. John Knight was the first person in line.

"Since 6 PM last night, so almost 15 hours," said Knight.

Apple's new gizmo is like a portable computer. It's slim and lightweight with about a 10 inch flat screen but no keyboard. Instead your fingers download applications, music, books and movies.

One drawback to Apple's new gadget finger smudges from all that navigating on the iPad. The iPad isn't cheap either, for a 16 gigabyte iPad you'll shell out about $500, for the 64 gigabyte one around $800.

Dan Costa with PCmag.com and Steven Levy with Wired Magazine have differing opinions on the iPad.

"We tested it in PC labs, it's a great device, we rated it 4.5 stars, an editor's choice, so just on the merits, the performance, we think it's a great product," said Costa.

"A little heavy to watch a movie on, and I'm concerned about the backlighting for really long reading experiences," said Levy.

The iPad does have some limitations though. It can only run one application at a time. It's not a phone and doesn't have a camera. Still, that didn't stop John Knight from paying big bucks to take an iPad home.

"Even though I'm tired I'm very excited, I'm very, very excited," said Knight.

Apple believes it will sell between 4 and 7 million iPads in the next year. We checked with the University Village Apple Store to find out how sales went today, and right now they only have a limited supply of iPad's left in stock.