iPad Air Orders Go Live. As Expected Personal Pickup Available

Apple launched US online sales for its latest generation iPad, the iPad Air, at 12:01am Pacific Time, and as expected the Personal Pickup option is available for customers to pick up their orders in stores later today. I was able to place an order precisely at 2:01am US Central Time. Personal Pickup allows customers to order online and then arrive at the store later in the day to pickup their merchandise. This isn’t a reservation, you’re actually giving your credit card information and purchasing the goods, the iPad Air in this case.

UPDATE: At 12:21AM Pacific time we are seeing that some stores in the San Fransisco area are already sold out and not available for Personal Pickup, but shipping in 5 to 7 days is available, so it looks like orders are moving quickly.

The iPad Air is the fifth generation 9.7 inch iPad and features the new A7 chip with the M7 chip running alongside. In addition, Apple has shaved weight off the the iPad with the new device now coming in at only 1lb. The form factor resembles that of the iPad mini, with a thinner bezel. Pricing starts at  $499 for the Wi-Fi model with 16 GB of storage and goes up to $929 for the 128 GB LTE-equipped model.

There is still no word as to when the iPad mini with Retina Display will go on sale officially with Apple having said sometime in November, although there are rumors of a November 21 sale date for that device. Word had been that supplies for the iPad Air would be “plentiful.” Wherever those “words” come from are also warning that the iPad mini with Retina Display will see limited supplies when it does release.

Using the Apple Store App on the iPhone, I ordered a 64GB Space Grey iPad mini with AT&T cellular and will pick up the device later today after receiving an email confirmation that it is ready. Based on past experience that email usually comes in once the local store where I’m picking up the device opens, which is scheduled for 8AM.