iPad 2 queues in Sydney, Canada, UK, NZ - but not in HK?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Saturday, 26 March 2011 22:51

Your IT - Home IT

Apple's iPad 2 has gone in sale in 25 more countries, with queues reported in Sydney, Canada and the UK outside Apple Stores and some authorised resellers, but in Hong Kong you can buy one now, no waiting - at more than twice the price!

Apple's iPad 2 is here at last, and as always, it has been accompanied by the usual healthy dose of iHysteria rarely expressed for technology companies.

Naturally, there were bountiful queues, with Alex Lee in Australia (alexglee on Twitter) and the #ipad2sydney hashtag keeping everyone updated on what was happening in the Sydney iQueue.

LogMeIn provided pizza and cookies on the night before Chri'¦ I mean, the iPad 2's launch, and provided more snacks later. The iPad 2 queue grew into King St, and then grew all the way down York St to the QVB!

Queues at other Apple Stores were reported in New Zealand, Canada, and the UK, and queues at authorised resellers too, who quickly sold out of their presumably limited stocks.

However, as Apple fans in the US still wait in queues to buy an iPad 2, many have been sold to resellers who've taken them straight to Hong Kong and Singapore, for sale into China and other Asian markets, with HK's official launch not due until sometime in April.

Here the top-of-the-line iPad 2 sells for around US $2000, more than twice the US $829 or AUD $949 retail price. One Hong Kong reseller is quoted saying that one mainland Chinese customer came over and bought 10 for himself and his friends back home, and that the iPad 2 is very popular - and profitable.

Of course, when money is no object, anything is possible, and an iPad 2 can most definitely be worth $2000 if it is otherwise unavailable. Even in launch countries, wait times for online ordering have already stretched from 24hrs to 2-3 weeks, to 4-5 weeks and then 5-6 weeks. The only way to guarantee getting one is to go out and get your hands on one to guarantee getting one quickly, rather than in a month or two - if you want one, of course.

So, as the iPad 2 fuels a healthy black economy while turning an extremely well earned pretty penny for Apple as well, along with all the developers and accessory makers right down to the iDevice-owning customers themselves, is it any wonder that people are willing to queue for an iPad 2?

Of course, there's always resellers to buy from aside from the Apple Store itself, and seeing as some did have stock at launch, there's a chance they'll have more stock for this week.

We'll know more on Monday, but for now, Apple has certainly achieved a 'mission accomplished' on the launch phase.

Now the ongoing availability phase and additional launch phase begins, with the pressure higher than ever to keep pumping fault-free iPad 2 units out to the global marketplace as quickly as possible!