SCORES OF Apple fans queued to buy the iPad computer on its launch in Ireland yesterday, but supplies were adequate to meet demand.
Shops in Dublin, Cork and Limerick reported high demand for the much-hyped product, but there were no queues reported in Galway.
“We have an arts festival, race week is starting and people are out and about doing other things. I think we may have bucked the national trend,” said one retailer in the western capital.
In Dublin, over 40 people were in the queue outside the Compu B store at the bottom of Grafton Street when the doors opened at 8am. Those at the top of the queue arrived at 5.30am and professed themselves relieved no one had camped out overnight, as happened in other countries when the iPad was launched.
In Cork, where Apple has long had a manufacturing presence and is one of the city’s biggest employers, staff at the Compu B store in Opera Lane reported huge interest in the new iPad, with stocks almost sold out before close of business.
In Limerick, Compu B on O’Connell Street in the city centre was similarly reporting huge interest in the new product, with the shop opening half an hour earlier than usual, at 9am, to cater for customers.
“We got in 180 units and at this stage, I would expect that we would sell out, if not by close of business today, then early tomorrow. We’ve had huge sales and it really has been a great day here for us. It’s been like Christmas,” said a spokesman for the Limerick outlet.
First in at the Dublin store was 24-year-old Richard Arnold, an architecture student from Clonskeagh in Dublin, who said he was buying a present for his mother.
Having intended to buy the 32GB 3G model, he ended up buying a tablet with twice the memory, after further phone consultation with his mother. “It’s definitely not for me, honest,” he insisted, while clutching the small white box to his chest.
There was a family theme to many of the purchases. Mark McElroy and his 18-year-old son David each picked up one of the touch-screen tablet computers, spending over €1,100 between them. Dad said he intended to play car-racing games, but added it was “really for my wife, Susie”. David said he was more interested in the internet, Facebook in particular.
Prices for the device begin at €499 through the Apple store and authorised Apple resellers.