Apple iPad – when launched was so much center of so much controversies. Many thought that iPad would be a failure without even thinking once about the device. Well Apple has done it once again, this time with iPad.
“Although we have delivered more than 500,000 iPads during its first week, demand is far higher than we predicted and will likely continue to exceed our supply over the next several weeks as more people see and touch an iPad,” the latest statement from Apple reads. “We have also taken a large number of pre-orders for iPad 3G models for delivery by the end of April,” the company begins its plea.
“Faced with this surprisingly strong US demand, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the international launch of iPad by one month, until the end of May,” the Mac maker sadly reveals. “We will announce international pricing and begin taking online pre-orders on Monday, May 10.”
The international users i.e. users from different countries were eagerly waiting for launch of iPad in their own countries, but sadly as Apple has made it clear that they will be taking pre-orders from May 10 only.
With this news , the black-marketing of iPads has also started in different countries. An article in Business Week states
Apple has suffered from shortages before. Its iPhone 3G was sold out at almost all of its U.S. retail outlets 10 days after it was introduced in July 2008. A year later, soaring sales of the iPhone 3GS left it with too few units to meet demand. Apple is betting the iPad, which starts at $499, is enticing enough that consumers are willing to pay a premium over low-cost notebooks.
Rivals such as Microsoft Corp. have failed to turn tablet computers into popular consumer devices. The international delay means consumers outside the U.S. may need to keep paying extra to buy the iPad from friends and entrepreneurs who brought them from the U.S. IPads have fetched 100,000 rupees ($2,250) in India and one purchaser in the U.K. paid $5,500, more than 10 times the U.S. asking price, according to online auctioneer EBay Inc.
I would never want to purchase Apple iPad at this price. When Apple‘s iPad would be available in India at a regular price , I would certainly consider purchasing it.