Its rubbish. We all knew which stores would have them prior to this morning, if there was concern about who would have them then just turn up at an Apple store as I doubt the prices differed.

@js... i agree. why the judging? everyone has their own right to feel a certain way or want something particular. materialistic or other. (to deny 'things' are a part of our lives is just naïve) are you the same people who judge others and their right to teach somewhere based on sexuality? probably.

i stood in a (albiet short) line the day the iphone 3g was released here 2 years ago. simply because i had waited long enough for something i knew i wanted. and i was judged then by alot of people - "ew iphone, its so overpriced and not that great, surely?" - most of those people now have iphones and act like they invented them.

yes they are that great. and ipad is pretty darn clever too.

I guess Apple had a good reason for all the secrecy stuff: this is mid-winter in NZ; the weather may drop well below zero at night, esp. in Welly or ChCh. What if those crazy fans had known the places and queued throughout the night, and finally had got sick or even worse, killed by the cold? You can check all the other Apple pages with iPad released at the same time with NZ and you'll find there was no secrecy about the shops with stock at all, simply because it is now mid-summer in the north hemisphere! However, I agree it was stupid to keep secret without any proper explanation!

again... profit goes offshore!!! we should make all this in NZ and create local jobs!!!!

To all you bashing the right for someone to queue to get something they really want..

of course you lot have never queued at all have all??

Never queued for hours, in person or on the phone, for those must have concert (or Sevens) tickets...

Never queued in line at the Mall Food Court for Maccas, even though they are a dozen other food stalls to choose from...

Such judgemental fools you all are!

It seems you are not allowed to buy one in Whakatane. Dick SMith and Noel Leeming may be selling them in the big cities but their local branches are not allowed to sell them in Whakatane.

I cannot but one online and in a phone call to Apple's NZ store they refused to sell me one.

I appreciate why Apple might want to give their retailers the first bite of the apple - after all the margins are so small. But why do they make it impossible for people in the country and smaller towns of NZ to buy this product?

I could spend $100 on petrol to go and buy one - but I am more annoyed by Apples arrogance than that.

Apple products are so intuitive, i mean pcs users have to put up with so much crap, why doesnt everybody have apple yet?

Its sad because a lot of people have been sucked in by the marketing machine. I actually heard a retard announcer on the radio quip "It is more expensive than a netbook, but it can do so much more!" If by more they mean no multitasking, no keyboard, no flash, no usb, no web cam, then sure.

wow.... what's up with all the judgmental people jumping to conclusions about peoples motivations for buying an iPad? If queuing is how they want to spend their time and if an iPad is what they want to spend their money on what harm is this causing you?

Sad sad people - beyond bragging rights of being a first owener (one amongst many), what is the point exactly of queuing early in the morning to buy one? Can someone please explain exactly the reasoning here. This is not a limited edition, it's not gold-plated. A party in 2020 Person A: "I was one of the first people in New Zealand to buy an iPod". Everyone else: "...".

FAIL