Thousands queue up in London and around the world as the iPad 2 goes on sale
The arrived in their droves and queued for hours through the sun.
Now the first lucky few have emerged from high-street stores clutching their prized versions of the much-anticipated iPad2.
The slimmer, faster version of the tablet computer, which made its debut last year, went on sale in the UK and other countries today.
It is expected to sell particularly well because it is priced at 399 for the basic model, 30 less than for the equivalent model a year ago.
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Result! Jules Lewis jumps for joy after becoming the first person to get his hands on the iPad2 after queuing outside the Apple Store in Regent Street, London, today
The high-tech consoles went first went on sale in the U.S. last week, then online at 1am today before hitting the high street at 5pm on Friday afternoon.
Jules Lewis was the first person to snap up the new console at the Apple Store in Regent Street, London, after waiting outside since 7.30am.
He jumped for joy after emerging from the shop clutching his new gadget as other shoppers waiting for their new machines looked on longingly.
iPad 2s went on sale just hours after Nintendo's 3DS games console arrived in stores.The tablet computer will cost between 399 and 659 depending on the specification.
Early does it: Mr Lewis, who had queued! since 7 .30am, celebrates after reaching the checkout as thousands more wait eagerly behind him today
New toys: Two gadget fans hold their new consoles after queuing up since yesterday evening at the Apple Store in Birmingham
By Friday afternoon large queues had formed outside the Apple Stores in London's Regent Street and Covent Garden.
One particularly dedicated fan, Jewels Lewis, staked his place as first in the queue outside the Regent Street shop on Thursday.
Waiting patiently: Shoppers formed a long queue outside the Apple Store in London's Covent Garden as they waited for the iPad to go on sale
Join the line: The queue outside the Regent Street store had already begun forming by Thursday
The personal finance executive told Metro, 'Last year I was fourth in the queue so I wanted to make sure I was firstthis year. When I got here this morning and saw no one else I thought, Yes, this is it, put my chair down and started enjoying the sunshine.'
Anticipation ran high in other citiesaround the world. Queues formed outside Apple stores! in Pari s and Munich while some keen fans in Sydney stood in line for 53 hours to be among the first to own an iPad 2 in Australia.
Staffat the Sydney store stood in line to welcome the first person in the queue, Canadian Alex Lee, as the doors finally opened.
Waiting game: A young couple wrap up warm as they prepare for a long wait outside the Apple Store in Regent Street for the UK launch of the ipad 2
Sleeping: Fans of the iPad bed down in sleeping bags with plentiful supplies of coffee and snacks as they wait to get their hands on the console
The waiting game: Jewels Lewis (right) has been queuing outside London's Apple Store for an iPad 2 since Thursday morning
The iPad was due to go on sale just hours after the launch of the Nintendo 3DS games console, which hit the shops in the UK at one minute past midnight.
Onceagain the launch led to huge queues forming outside stores as eager gamers waited to be am! ong the first to own the new console.
KatHannaford, the contributing editor of Gizmodo, the technology website, said: I can't remember a day like this, when two such big hardware products went on sale at the same time.
Keeping busy: French shoppers brought books and laptops to keep themselves entertained as they queued in Paris
Remaining seated: In Munich people brought chairs along as they queued outside the Apple store
'Apple is obviously the biggest player in the industry, but Nintendo's 3DS has really taken off in othercountries and is likely to be pretty huge here.
Sheadded that the slowdown in consumer confidence was hitting sales of some of the smaller electronics products, but the big names would continue to do well. Consumers are becoming more discerning, but if a gadget promises to deliver something that nothing else can, it will sellwell.'
Technologyfans were kitted out with foil space blankets to beat the chill outsidethe HMV store in Oxford Street for the Nintendo 3DS launch.
The queue goes on: In Sydney, hundreds of customers stood in line to wait for the Apple store to open
Excited: Apple fans in the queue in Sydney, many of whom had queued for over two days, could not wait for the store to open
At the front of the queue was Marwan Elgamal, 21, from Wembley, north London.
Thestudent, who slept on the street outside the store on Wednesday, was also the first person to officially buy a Nintendo Wii when it was launched in the same way in 2006.
Hesaid: 'I'm just really passionate about the consoles and I think they are amazing and just make me want to play. Wednesday night was really cold but it will be worth it to get one and I can't wait to get home andplay it.'
First! Canadian Alex Lee, who was at the front of the queue in Sydney, was welcomed by staff when the store doors finally opened
Sought-after: The iPad 2, which is smaller and lighter than its predecessor, is expected to be a best-seller
Comic Russ Kane and rapper turned soul crooner Plan B also attended the launch event in London. Around 100stores are opening at midnight including shops in Aberdeen, Belfast, Dundee and Liverpool.
The console, which has two screens, a built-in motion sensor, three cameras and can also double as a pedometer, claims to offer glasses-free 3D technology.
AnHMV spokesman said: 'The releas! e of Nin tendo's 3DS is shaping up to be the biggest launch ever for a games console - we've already seen massivedemand through online and instore pre-orders in recent months, and now it looks like tens of thousands of gamers will have been queuing for midnight launches all around the country.
Awaiting the launch: Student Marwan Elgamal (centre) was at the front of the queue for the midnight launch of the Nintendo 3DS, in London's Oxford Street
'Demand will, no doubt, just keep building in the months ahead - appealing to serious gamers and casual players alike.
'The3DS is a groundbreaking piece of technology that will not only take gaming to the next level, but will help to lay the foundations for 3D tobecome a standard entertainment format - it's a real game-changer.'
Reports from Japan, where the console has already been launched, said it is able to tell if users are playing bootleg copies of games and disable itself.
The 3DS has already become the most pre-ordered games gadget in Amazon's history.
Beating the rush: Hundreds of excited gamers queued up for the console, which went on sale just hours before the iPad 2
We c an't wait: The main launch took place at the HMV Store on London's Oxford Street while other branches also opened around the country
The website, Britain's biggest onlineretailer, said that it had received more orders for the gadget than anyother console, with 71 per cent more orders than for Sony's PlayStation3 in 2007 and 123 per cent more than for the hugely popular Nintendo Wii, which went on to sell more than six million units in Britain.
Japan-basedNintendo has already sold 141,000 of the handheld console despite many reviewers saying the 3D effects were not that impressive.That figure is more than the entire amount of 3D televisions sold last year in Britain.
Hot property: The Nintendo 3DS, which costs 179, uses groundbreaking technology to provide glasses-free 3D play
However British consumers will have to pay the price for their new gadgets, both of which are significantly more expensive than they are in the U.S.
While the official UK price for the Nintendo device stands at 179, a shrewd purchase in New York might set you back as little as 167.66, including sales tax.
This means British consumers paying an extra 62.33, or 37 per cent compared with the U.S.
The starting price, including VAT, for the basic 16GB model is 399. That is 64.75, or around 20 per cent,more than the price a New York shopper would pay, again including the citys sales tax.
The highest-spec model is 659 here including VAT, compared with 554.18 in New York. This means a British consumer will pay 104.82 more than theirAmerican coun! terpart.
Thedifferential can be explained partly by the fact that Britains VAT of 20 per cent is more than double the 8.875 per cent maximum in New York.
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