In the basement of Paris’s Louvre museum, the early line for Apple Inc’s iPad far surpassed that for entry to see the Mona Lisa.
Hundreds queued up at the Apple store in the Carrousel du Louvre shopping centre in the museum complex, with staff cheering every purchase, as sales outside the US of the tablet computer began today. In Sydney, fans braved the chill of the southern hemisphere autumn to be among the first to buy the device, while in Tokyo people waited for as long as 40 hours to make a purchase.
“I tried to buy one in Seattle when I was there about 15 days ago, but they were sold out; so I decided to wait till it came to Europe,” said Julien Boidin, who works for Microsoft in Paris and has an iPhone and a Macintosh computer. “I live in Normandy and commute for four hours a day. I needed something for the train ride.”
Following the sale of one million of the devices in less than a month of its April 3 debut in the US, the iPad is now available in Australia, Canada, Japan and six European countries. The maker of the iPhone and iPod, which this week became the world’s most valuable technology company, has popularised a new category of computer between a smartphone and a laptop. Apple may sell 8 million iPads this year, according to Royal Bank of Canada.
“The thing with Apple is it’s not just a piece of technology, it’s actually the whole experience,” said Rahul Koduri, an engineering student in Sydney, who arrived at 2 am yesterday to be first in line. “They just fit into your lifestyle so well. There’s no other product that does it.”
Underestimated Demand
Apple based in Cupertino, California, delayed the release of iPads outside the US after underestimating demand at home. In Europe, the iPad will be available in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the UK
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Apple is betting the iPad, which starts at $618 in continental Europe - more than the $499 it sells for in the US to reflect higher value-added taxes - will entice enough consumers willing to pay a premium over low-cost notebooks.
Rivals such as Microsoft have failed to turn tablet computers into popular consumer devices.