Expect to pay a premium if you want to be first to own a iPad 2 in the UAE
The iPad 2 from Apple got released in the US this past Friday and many of you are wondering when will it be released in the UAE. Before that, let me quickly state that, from the reviews I’ve read, it seems like almost everyone has given it a thumbs up. It’s more of an evolutionary upgrade than a revolutionary one, which was expected if you follow Apple’s product cycles. In a nutshell, it’s much faster than the previous one, quite a bit thinner and has two cameras.
So coming to the question of when to expect the iPad 2 in the UAE, there is no official word on it, but someone on the EmiratesMac forums suggests the 1st of April. I doubt we’ll see it so soon as people ordering from the US are getting a 2-3 week shipment delay and considering that Apple has stated that they will be launching the iPad 2 is 26 other countries by the end of March, I doubt they’ll have the production capacities to enter any new markets.
Unofficially, expect the iPad 2 units to be available in the usual channels for exorbitant prices by the end of this week. In fact, I can already someone willing to buy it at AED 8000 on souq.com and I’m sure that someone will sell it for that, or more. In fact, as sad as it sounds, I actually know a couple of people who won’t mind spending that much just to have the iPad 2 before anyone else. But if you are willing to wait, expect the prices to drop by half in a month or so and more when it officially lands in the UAE.
To give you an indication, the iPad 2 is priced exactly like the original iPad and I’m guessing that will be the case here in the UAE. The following table shows the price of the official price of the iPad prior to the announcement of the iPad 2 and these are the prices you should expect.
|
Wi-Fi Only |
Wi-Fi + 3G |
| iPad 16GB |
AED 2,199 (US$ 600) |
AED 2,799 (US$ 760) |
| iPad 32GB |
AED 2,649 (US$ 720) |
AED 3,249 (US$ 885) |
| iPad 64GB |
AED 3,099 (US$ 840) |
AED 3,699 (US$ 1000) |
So what about you? Will you get one? We have a discussion going on in our forums on that. I know I’m tempted to get one but I have had the original iPad for a while and although I love it, I can’t think of it replacing my laptop which is what I eventually want my tablet to do. Maybe the BlackBerry Playbook or the Honeycomb equipped Motorola Xoom will do that- but I’ll still have to wait for them to be released here in the UAE and maybe while I am waiting, I’ll entertain myself with an iPad 2. In white.
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