Rahul Koduri aims to be the first person in Australia to buy an iPad

RAHUL Koduri has been camped out in front of Apple's Sydney CBD store since 2am this morning.

Rahul Koduri, 22, waits outside Apple's Sydney CBD store. Rahul has been outside the store since 2am the day before the iPad's release / AAP

RAHUL Koduri has been camped out in front of Apple's Sydney CBD store since 2am this morning and hopes to be the first person in Australia to get his hands on the iPad when it goes on sale tomorrow.

The 22-year-old Blacktown resident had to make arrangements with his boss at Telstra to take the day off to line up for iPad's Australian retail launch.

"I want to be the first to get it," he said as he sat alone outside the George Street store this afternoon.

The Wi-Fi version of the iPad sells for $629 including GST, while the Wi-Fi version with 3G costs $799.

Mr Koduri didn't pre-order an iPad, preferring to stand in line.

"The experience of going to an Apple store and buying it - there's just no other company like that. It's like a cathedral when you're inside there."

Mr Koduri expects more buyers to brave the chilly Sydney weather, and possible showers, and queue up outside the store as the clock ticks closer to the Friday 8am launch.

"I expect more people to come after 12am tonight and into the early hours on Friday," he said.

"I've read all the forums online and (also) my friends are pretty keen on coming down tonight."

Mr Koduri so far has been offered coffee, an umbrella and permission to use the Apple store's bathrooms, if he needs to freshen up.

"It'll be cold, but I've got some blankets and jumpers with me. But in terms of rain, one of the Apple guys said if it rains too much they'll let us in."

In any case, he has his laptop to watch movies through the night.

Mr Koduri said he hadn't paid much attention to some of the less flattering reviews of the iPad.

"The only negative thing that I've heard is about Adobe Flash, which actually doesn't matter because Flash is just too old for it," he said.

"Mainly I'm going to use it for web surfing and apps (applications), obviously. The number of apps that this has is just amazing."

In New York, about 700 people queued outside Apple's Fifth Avenue store to get the first look at the iPad when it was launched in early April.