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iPad 2 News: UK iPad 2 Launch Still on for March 25
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All those rumors that Apple would be delaying the international rollout of the iPad 2 seem to be bogus, since the company has announced that the launch in one country is a go. In answer to a query about the UK launch, an Apple representative told TechRadar today “everything on the Web site still holds true; the Web site says 25 March and that's when it'll be.”
Another Apple rep spoke to CNET and claimed the scheduled launch plans for the UK and 24 more countries are unchanged. Apple has already delayed the launch of the iPad 2 in Japan due to the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster there. The big question is whether Apple has enough stock to satisfy demand in other countries, since they sure don’t have enough to keep up here.
The most likely scenario is Apple has withheld a certain number of the tablets for the worldwide launch. This seems rather unfair to the U.S. customers who ordered their iPad 2s on March 11 and are still waiting for delivery, as well as the ones who have invested hours waiting in line outside the Apple Store, only to go home empty handed.
If the same sort of supply vs. demand situation arises wolrldwide, the result will be the same sort of chaos that exists here. This could turn into a PR nightmare for Apple, especially if the situation in Japan results in component shortages that further diminish the supply of iPad 2s.
The 25 countries set to debut the iPad 2 on Friday are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.
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