It can be done and many are importing an iPad into the UK from the US due to the delays announced by Apple of the iPad. It isn’t illegal because after all it is possible to bring back whatever when you go on holiday. I suppose you might be unlucky with having to declare some items when coming back in and pay duty on them, but you can do it.

Don McAllister brought back two iPads from New York on his last trip to the States. Well done Don. Some people are using companies set up specifically to offer this service, you can send them the money and they buy the iPad for you seeing as your credit card will probably hold you up because the billing address has to be what is on the card.

So if you are prepared to pay a it over the top and you are an impatient sort then you can get an iPad sooner rather than later. Apple are not making it easy though, despite some saying that they take a neutral stance on the matter. After all a sale is a sale.

So here is how to do it. The best way would be if you have a friend or a relative living ing the States, you send them the money, they order the iPad and get it sent to their address before they re package it and send it on. They might try marking it as a gift, or they might say that they are sending something that you left behind when you were there, so that you might sidestep the import duties. Customs people are all total bastards though and will probably not let you get away with that though. The taxes could be about £65 and I have no idea what it will cost to get the packet sent by UPS or similar.

Are you sure you want to do this? It will be so much cheaper and less hassle to be patient waiting like everyone else outside of the US. Funny I thought you would say that…. I want one and I want one now !!!! OK keep your hair on.

You will not be able to order from other places like Amazon and get them to send direct to you. Amazon will be looking for a US address too. You could buy one from EBay though that would work, but expect to pay a premium. Some enterprising people have bought iPads soley to sell on through the auction site

There is a company called BundleBox which is a good service to become acquainted with, because not only does it offer a complete US redirect service (including taking care of tax and import charges), but the company will even buy a device for you if you’re having difficulty paying for it on your credit card. That will cost you over £100 on top of the price of the iPad from Apple

So how serious are you about getting an iPad

Yesterday while checking out Twitter – as you do when you are a geek, I saw that, someone I know that has declared himself to the world as being in debt to an unbelievable level and is bankrupt, has bought himself an iPad. Not only that – the person is living in the UK and to get the iPad he had to buy from the USA and pay the extra costs of getting it shipped plus the extra duty on top of that. Crazy or what? I suppose when you owe that much money a bit more on top won’t make a big difference.

It just goes to show the level of commitment (he should be committed) that Apple fan boys will go to to get their fix of the shiny Apple toys. I am sure there are a few other people out there that would be prepared to sell the granny to be able to get their hands on the newest computer from Cupertino. Even some borderline cases of need an iPad will be arranging thought inside the head to justify the purchase of the top of the range model

iPad Europe Release Date

The iPad Europe situation is not good as it stands at the middle of April. There was recently an announcement from Apple to say that they were not going to supply iPads to Europe for another month. The release date for the iPad for the UK, Germany, France Spain and some other European countries will not be until the end of May, with a pre-order date of 10th of May.

Personally I think it has been poorly handled by Apple. They should at the very least had plans to be able to ramp up production faster if needed and as the problem stands now they should have made sure that European iPad developers could get an iPad because they need the physical device to get the apps ready and working right.

Of course it is not just in Europe the iPad is not getting out the rest of the world either. Apple are bound to look after the most vocal customer base first and there local customers as in U.S. citizens. So much for there being a World Wide market now, when Apple looks after one section of its customers before the rest.

Apple iPad prices.

There are rumours of iPad UK Pricing but nothing yet from Apple. Will Apple do what they usually do with the Apple iPad UK price the and over the pond pricing and hike it up a bit. With the iPad being scarce and hard to get right now it would seem that Apple could just charge what they like anyway and get away with it. That on top of the ignominy of making the UK and the rest of the world wait longer to get the device is going to annoy more than a few people.

There is a vocal group of German Apple fans that have already voiced their displeasure at Apple, at being treated like second class citizens. Long term it will not make much difference with the iPad being the runaway success though whatever the Apple iPad pricing. I did also see a bit of a backlash in the ordinary news media that like to have the man bites dog angle on a story that gets too big for itself, with complaints over how well the wifi works.

All very interesting to see how the marketing mega machine that is Apple works, some say that this scarcity that is there now with the iPad availability, is better than what they could have hoped for and possibly manufactured more successfully that the device itself.
There are some non U.S. fans that are prepared to ship Apple iPad from U.S. and pay extra to get their hands on one. iPad worldwide sales will probably go like stink once Apple can make enough of the device in the factories in China.

Update – The Apple UK iPad Price – Apple iPad 2 prices

The iPad from Apple UK prices were not as bad as expected and the iPad 1 price and the iPad 2 UK price were good enough that Apple have sold a boat load of iPads in the UK. Maybe the world wide economy is having an effect on the iPad pricing. Next I will looking out to see what the iPad 3 will be looking like and also wondering about the Apple iPad 3 and the price of the amazing iPad. Now the iPad has been out a while and the iPad is taking over the world and winning against the netbook phenomenon and we are getting iPads for business uses.