I am pondering getting one and couldn't find one anywhere. To the people returning for refund of same amount - come over on eBay ;)
I can return this model up til this coming Saturday and get a free refund.
iPads have had huge problems with mass organized scalping, particularly here in New York. For many, it's their job to camp out all night and buy 2 iPads, fronted by a guy carrying a wad of $50k+ cash for a bunch of people in the line.
The scalpers want AT&T models first and foremost (the GSM 3G is internationally usable) and then Wifi-only. They aren't interested in Verizon, which I guess explains whY I found out.
I've considered eBaying it but I don't think Verizon models are as in high demand as the other two. Probably more hassle than it's worth.
First, the lower amount of memory is very important for testing how your views load and unload.
Second I've noticed pretty big differences in how the screen looks on my MBP as opposed to on the actual device.
Of course you can do development in the simulator or on an older model for a couple of weeks. Developing on the old model is probably a must-do for at least another year or two. Furthermore, while you do need to test on a device later in the dev cycle, I (and most other devs I know) actually don't deploy to hardware for days at a time early in the cycle.
Early in the iphone dev cycle there were enormous disparities between bugs on hardware and the simulator. Some symbols didn't even link consistently between the two and re targeting would cause compilation errors. This is no longer the case and the two targets are very, very close.
In fact, if someone told me they wanted to get into ipad development, I would tell them to write their app first, and then buy an iPad to test it on.
Curious if you just bought the Verizon model because that was the only one you got in the stores or if you felt it was no good without LTE (compared to ATT) and so are returning it?
Speaking of Verizon LTE - I had no idea my area was already LTE enabled until I went looking in the context of 4G upgrade for my Xoom. For the iPad2 it doesn't matter as it's going to be used outside of the US so only AT&T model will do - wish the scalpers slowed down a bit!
Even if that was OK, Verizon annoy me by charging $35 activation. I loathe that kind of charge. I'll pay for service. Don't make pay for the "privilege" of paying for service. Particularly when you basically have to do nothing.
LTE isn't even a consideration for me until LTE rollouts are widespread.
Getting an iPad that works in the US (especially when there's a high density of Apple users, aka AT&T can't cope) is way more valuable to me - I'm only considering the Verizon version.
I had a package containing a replacement Kindle left in my apartment hallway by a moronic FedEx employee, who I'm only guessing forged the 'signature required' box so he didn't have to drop it off at the post office.
Although Amazon was great with the replacement, it took 2 minutes to get the guy to send out a replacement for a battery defect at 2:30am. Having dealt with them before back in the UK my wife simply didn't believe it that they actually had competent people working past 6pm let alone midnight (customer service here in Canada is on par to what black men got at KKK rallys).