iPad 2 launch has come and gone in 26 countries, more to come

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Saturday, 26 March 2011 22:06

Your IT - Home IT

Apple's iPad 2 is well and truly out there in the marketplace, both in officially launched countries, and those relying on marked-up grey imports of the iPad 2, with the buying frenzies at Apple's stores capture on Twitter and online - but the queues will continue!

In the US, where the wait for the iPad 2 continues as a global launch sucked up virtually all available stocks, the wait continues - as it does around the world, with the UK's iPad 2 launch only starting less than an hour ago as of publication.

There are plenty of people that want an iPad 2 who don't, for whatever reason, have one yet. This includes both existing owners and new iPad 2 owners to be - purported to be a much larger proportion of buyers this time around.

With launch events having gone ballistic at Apple's official Stores, even if savvy buyers were able to buy on launch day or weekend at stores like Dick Smith or for even cheaper pricing at Big W, at between $11 and $51 dollars less than Apple's own pricing, the iPad 2 has been a mega smash-hit success already - and it hasn't even been out for a month yet!

Meanwhile, Android tablet makers have been forced to lower prices, or in Samsung's case, come out with a thinner and cheaper Samsung Galaxy 10.1 re-design to more closely match the iPad 2 now, not in several months time.

Although the iPad 2's launch event has come and gone, the reality of queues in the US for the iPad 2 lasting long after launch day are a prediction of things to come for the rest of the world.

If the iPad 2's demand keeps up - and there's absolutely no reason why it won't, given existing sales and the iPad 1's undeniable success - Apple has won the tablet war for 2011.

Google will be playing catch-up, and will be trying to catch up as fast as it can, working with manufacturers to bring out ever improved models, and to encourage developers to focus on quality and not quantity.

Indeed, Google might be forced to introduce some kind of actual quality control at the Android Market.

For now, despite the 'closed' nature of who can go onto Apple's App Store, and who can't, Apple's ecosystem has delivered the most vibrant range of first and third-party software, a universe of accessories and has lowered prices for apps to more affordable levels than ever before in history.

Continued demand means the iQueues will continue. Unless Big W magically has unlimited amounts of iPad 2 models at cheaper prices, and other authorised outlets have access to stocks on a consistent basis, there are going to be delays.

We'll see on Monday what kind of iQueue starts up again at Apple Stores around Australia, and how soon it is before reports of the iPad 2 being 'sold out', at least for now, hit the media.

The iPad 2 launches in more countries next month, and undoubtedly more countries thereafter.

It also means that the iPad 3, which is far more likely to arrive in 2012 than anytime this year, will have the better cameras we wished were there this time, an even faster processor, more memory, the likelihood of a higher resolution screen, a better speaker, even more battery life, an even thinner profile, more connectivity, a second dock port and more.

But that's all still to come. Better Android tablets and more Android software will come too, as will the Playbook, WebOS and hopefully iPad-esque Windows tablets.

Yet while we wait for all those tablets to truly arrive, the iPad 2 is here, even if you have to iQueue for it, order it online, or pop into an authorised reseller for iQueue avoidance - if there are any left in the first shipment.

Will the iPad 2 'sold out' announcement come this week? The next?

The iPad 2 launch story continues, it definitely ain't over yet!