PopShop: April Madness—iPads and Basketball

By Karen Bard
April 6, 2010

iPad, iWant?

Image courtesy of Apple

Hundreds of people lined up for hours—in some cases, even days—in front of Apple stores all over the country to purchase the much-anticipated new iPad, which debuted on Saturday. Apple announced on Monday that it sold over 300,000 iPads in the U.S. as of midnight Saturday, April 3 and that customers downloaded over one million apps from Apple's App store and over 250,000 eBooks from its iBookstore during the first day. Speaking of apps, if you've already got your hands on an iPad, be sure to check out the eBay for iPod app. The app takes advantage of the device's larger screen and higher image resolution to give shoppers a gallery view of key merchandise, while still providing relevant information like price, bid history, etc.

The eBay Stats: Currently, there are over 8,300 listings with the term "iPad" on eBay, from iPad-related domain names to sleeve cases and screen protectors. We're curious as to whether we'll start to see Kindle sales on eBay skyrocket as people dump them for the iPad over time.

On our Shopping List: An iPad, naturally (we at least want to try it), plus a graphic neoprene case to carry it around in.

Blue Devils Beat the Bulldogs

NCAA Championship Game: Butler v Duke (Photo by Chris Steppig/NCAA Photos-Pool/Getty Images)

March Madness concluded last night with Duke beating Butler with seconds to spare. The memorable, knuckle-biting game game had powerhouse Duke up against small Cinderella story Butler. Duke has had a long history of winning and a huge fan base, so it's no surprise that the Blue Devils are winning on eBay, too. But is that an indicator of tonight’s outcome? Remains to be played.

The eBay Stats: There are currently 5,030 items with the listing term Duke on eBay in the Sports Memorabilia category and 1,072 for Butler. As of this morning, there are 39 listings that include both terms, but we expect that number to rise as sellers begin offering souvenirs from the game.

On Our Shopping List: How about a Final Four Duke vs. Butler Championship magnet or pin?

Rear-Toning Tennies

Kim Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian and Kris Jenner arrive at the Reebok EasyTone Footwear Celebration (Photo by Todd Williamson/WireImage)

Sneaker brands have long made claims about improving speed, agility and overall performance—all to get you playing on par with your favorite athletes. The latest trend in tennies, however, is all about toning. These shoes promise the wearer a firmer backside and shapely calves. MBT, the first of the toning footwear brands, began popping up over a decade ago with the promise of destabilizing the leg muscles in order to stimulate posture and muscles throughout the whole body. The shoes, however, were strange looking and a bit cloddy; you'd only wear them if you had the confidence to get over having everyone stare at you on the street or the gym. In 2007, FitFlops offered a similar "get a workout while you walk" promise in the form of a flip flop. More recently, in the fall of 2009, Reebok introduced the EasyTone shoe. This one looks just like a regular running shoe, but apparently has the same butt-lifting benefits as the others (look, even the Kardashian’s agree!). In the spirit of getting back in shape this spring, we wondered: How do these supposedly slenderizing shoes stack up?

The eBay Stats: In the past 90 days, there have been 6,700 listings and $315,846 in sales for MBT; 1,271 listings and $15,696 in sales for FitFlops and 1,1892 listings and $189,506 in sales for Reebok EasyTone. Seems like MBT is running all over the rest of 'em on eBay.

On Our Shopping List: A futuristic pair of metallic EasyTones is attention-grabbing, but perhaps less so than these thick-soled MBTs.

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