iPad 2 International Sales Start is a Pre-Order Launch at Best

Apple is launching the iPad 2 sales in 25 more markets today. At 1am (2am in Germany) the online sale of the iPad 2 began. I guess tons of Apple fans that got up at 2am or stayed up until then were very disappointed. The shipping time on the iPad 2 tablets was stated as 2-3 weeks right away. If you order now you have to wait 3-4 weeks like it states on the US store. I was already expecting it, as I got word of this before launch.

To me Apple did not launch iPad 2 sales in Europe today. They only started the pre-order. There will be a very small supply of iPad 2 units in stores starting at 5pm today, but that really is just smoke and mirrors. If you have not been sitting in front of an Apple store all night, you are not getting an iPad 2 today.

Apple is in the great position to now crank out iPad 2 units exactly to the demand. They now know how many iPads they need for the next month, because they already sold them.

This Apple product launch is not a great experience. I prefer a pre-order period for a high demand product like this. I also expect Apple to pre-produce enough product for a launch. Being a month behind with production is just not acceptable for a gadget. I only wait that long or longer for a new custom configured car, but not for a cookie cutter gadget.

On my iPad 2 order it says that it will ship on April 15th. This is in 3 weeks. So far so good. What is not good is the estimated arrival. That date is 11 days later. Eleven days for shipping is a bit long. In my experience Apple uses pessimistic estimates for shipping. Let's see how long I have to wait for the iPad 2 to arrive in the end.

German Gizmodo has some photos of the long lines in front of the Apple Store in Munich. My prediction is that 90% the people there will go home empty handed.

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