Why Is It So Difficult To Get An iPad 2?
- April 6th, 2011
- By Rakeye
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Right, I’m annoyed!
I’ve spent two weekends now walking round Central London trying to get an iPad 2 but all sold out… everywhere. I went to the Apple Store on the Friday they came out in the UK to be faced with a massive queue that went all the way round Covent Garden. It was unbelievably huge! I waited for twenty minutes without moving and gave up, thinking that, of course, Apple would have realised that there would be huge demand and would have enough stock to last at least until the next day, if not the next week. How wrong I was!
I’ve been round all the Apple stores obviously, and John Lewis, and Currys, and PC World and they’re all sold out. The Apple Store told me that I should go online at 9pm and reserve one to pick up the next day but I’ve tried this for 2 evenings now and they’re all gone within literally 5 seconds… How frustrating.
I have checked on a few websites now and it seems that there’s a global shortage of iPad 2s, but I just can’t shake the feeling that I’m being manipulated by Apple. Did they really underestimate the demand by such a huge extent? If so then it’s a serious, serious cock-up! But this is Apple we’re talking about. They’re the company that has come back from obscurity through a supreme attention to detail (just look at the sexy magnetic power cable on the macbook!) and expert marketing tactics.
So basically, I think that the reason that it’s so difficult to get an iPad is that Apple are restricting supply, thus guaranteeing that consumers like me talk and blog and tweet and in essence do their marketing for them and therefore building demand. Pretty simple, pretty clever.
It’s actually interesting from a general social marketing point of view as it’s allowed Apple to create an agnostic and all-encompassing social media campaign without paying a penny or having to deal with any single network.
That’s why it’s so difficult to get an iPad. They aren’t letting us buy them, so that more people will want them. I’ll let you know if I get one at 9pm tomorrow!
