There are close to 300 people gathering at the Bellevue Square Mall in Washington for the Surface 2 midnight launch event.
Now, not every single person is there to pick up Microsoft’s newest tablet. Some are staying up on Monday night to participate in the Surface Challenge, a contest that will award one winner from 10 different Microsoft stores around the country with an all-expense paid VIP trip to Orlando.
Others may be there to see Seattle Seahawks star Richard Sherman. The first 150 people in line will snag an autograph from the All-Pro cornerback, who also helped Microsoft with the Halo 4 launch about a year ago.
https://twitter.com/surface/status/392521305654034432
But some are certainly waiting to pick up their new Surface 2 or Surface Pro 2 and be the first to get their hands on Microsoft’s newest line of tablets.
If you didn’t pre-order, though, it may be difficult to take home a new device:
https://twitter.com/7techgames/status/392541823215734784
Others want to test out the devices and simply check them out. Twitter user @ultimatemakeup, for example, plans to try the Surface 2 in the store and then see what Apple announces on Tuesday with its new iPad.
@geekwire gonna play with it before I make my decision tomorrow (when the new iPad is announced).
— theultimatemakeup (@ultimatemakeup) October 22, 2013
Lines formed for both the Surface (October of last year) and Surface Pro (February 2013) launch at Seattle’s University Village.
Here are a few more photos from Bellevue:
https://twitter.com/JessEstrada/status/392524650430726144
https://twitter.com/JessEstrada/status/392518335205617664
https://twitter.com/surface/status/392520694665584641
https://twitter.com/7techgames/status/392515820103802881
Here’s what’s going on at the Microsoft Store in Austin (10 Microsoft stores are hosting midnight launch parties):
https://twitter.com/SGarveyTx/status/392533811835043840
And the scene inside another store: