It's nearly here...
With less than 24 hours until the New Zealand launch of arguably the most highly anticipated piece of gadgetry since the iPhone, we still have no sign of any retailers putting their hands up and actually confirming that they’ll be stocking it and how many they’ve got. Which leaves those dying to get their hands on one with a bit of dilema: where to queue and where to avoid?
Well, we’ve tried to tease information out of people all day long, but we’ve had little-to-no success. The Apple Silence Machine is working well in New Zealand, it would seem! Here’s the little that we have got:
Earlier today, Paul Brislen of Vodafone tweeted the follow to @Polarbearfarm who was asking whether Voda would be selling the iPad themselves:
that’s right… got to go to Magnum or Dick or JB or similar for the box. ^PB
We asked Paul if this was insider knowledge or an educated guess, but he didn’t reply. I hope we haven’t upset him! (You can take it right, Paul?!)
MagnumMac is quite obviously going to be selling it given that they’re the strongest retail presence for Apple products in NZ, but it hasn’t been confirmed. Their website doesn’t even mention it, but we know that at least one poor soul is camped out there right now waiting to get their hands on a unit, and we’re sure the nice folks at MagnumMac would have tipped him off if he were wasting his time.
We reached out to Dick Smith’s but they wouldn’t comment. There are rumours flying around that some of their stores will carry them on launch day, but numbers are unknown.
JB Hifi interestingly has a placeholder page on their website for ‘iPad and iPad Accessories’ which then tells you that ‘no stores match your query’, so it’s a safe bet that they’ll be on their shelves at some point but it’s unclear when.
We called some Harvey Norman stores to try to tease some details out of their sales team but nobody we spoke to knew anything about it at all (or at least that’s what they were telling us). Their website returns no results for the term ‘iPad’, but we’ve reached out to their Twittering folk and will let you know if they reply.
Noel Leeming is much the same deal – no mention of it on their website, nobody at any stores claiming to know anything, and no Twitter presence whatsoever bar a couple of accounts in their name that tweeted one thing each at some point in time and then evidently gave up.
It’s a safe bet that the usual Apple resellers in New Zealand will get the device, but it’s impossible to know who will get it when, and in what quantities. Given that dilemma, what will be your gamble? Where will you queue up tomorrow and what will you do if the doors open and there’s zero stock? Perhaps you’re planning to buy from Apple direct? Hit the comments and share your game plans (and any juicy tips you may have, too!).
Steve wrote:
I’ve seen a lot of these kind of ads on TV lately, and I barely watch TV! It generally seems that the small print excludes Apple products; if they are included,they usually say quite prominently “including Apple products!”
(B Gallagher has made 71 comments)
hoping (fingers crossed) to stock it at our shop soon (telstraclear retail chch), wont have them for tomorrow tho
(nfused has made 30 comments)
im shocked and worried that the applesite has not updated, to offer people the chance to order online, its not like they will get it before friday
(kiwiboi22 has made 57 comments)
kiwiboi22 wrote:
“shocked”? really… hmm… seems like very inconsequential things shock people these days
(Fastred has made 6 comments)
@ Fastred:
shocked in the fact, that apple dont really seem to care about the Ipad going on sale here.
i know there is not a strong market for it,
but they could try a little bit
lol
i know the iphone4 is their big thing(for now anyway), but they could try to push and sale the Ipad a bit more.
just from a marketing stand point, they seem a bit lazy.
(kiwiboi22 has made 57 comments)
it’s out tmr, definately…or I will give you guys each $100
(tonie has made 26 comments)
I think they will sell them in JB for sure. I was there earlier today in the Queen St store and I asked about the iPads. All he said was “Just come back tomorrow at 9am, maybe grab a coffee outside JB…… and maybe grab an iPad”.. then he smiled. So I’m pretty sure iPad will be on sale tomorrow @ JB! Less than 11 hours to go!
(chris0326 has made 21 comments)
APPLE HAS UPDATED THEIR WEBSITE!!! – 12:30am
all retailers listed here: http://www.apple.com/nz/buy/ipad/
20 in Auckland
4 in Christchurch
7 in Wellington
(see website for more cities)
(daba has made 19 comments)
With Apple releasing the iPad and iPhone 4 so close together I can only justify buying one of the too… I would LOVE an iPad, but the iPhone 4 is just too much temptation…
(Ecyrb has made 23 comments)
Ecyrb wrote:
Why not buy the iPad this week, the the iPhone in a few weeks when its "issue" is resolved.
(wackymacky has made 3 comments)
Guys if any of you are queuing anywhere at all at the moment, email us some pictures of yourselves! Send to: team at iphonewzealand dot co dot nz
I wasn't keen to wait in line yesterday, but I was the 2nd through the doors at Magnum Mac, Albany today when it opened at 9am. I bought a 16GB WiFi unit for $799. They sold out 2 models yesterday, the 16 & 32GB WiFi + 3G models, and still had stocks of the rest in store this morning when I arrived.
These iPad's are an awesome piece of work!
(Matt has made 37 comments)