South Korea’s top two telecoms operators SK Telecom and KT Corp have both suspended the online sale of the iPad tablet due to tight supplies less than a week after they launched the sale, according to aReutersreport.
Without revealing sales figures, SK Telecom said in a posting on its website:
“Our iPad 2 inventory has been depleted and we apologize for failing to provide enough supplies due to the product’s global supply shortages.”
iPad 2s in theApple Online Store Korea, however, continue to ship in an estimated 1-2 weeks, but without any form of subsidies from the operators.
Worldwide, Apple sold just under 5 million iPads in Q1 2011, around a million shy from its expected 6 million units. The transition to a new model and the Japanese supply chain tangles are said to have triggered the shortages of critical components.
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It seems like the demand for iPad 2s remain strong in South Korea even after the country’s telecom regulator hasannouncedits plans for an Apple probe to determine whether the company’s collection of location data from iPhone and iPad devices violates privacy rules.
Apple launched the new version of iPad in several Asian countries including Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and eight others last week after it went on sale in the U.S. market in March.
Story byFrancis Tan
Francis Tan is the Asia editor of TNW, who is based in the Philippines. He is particularly interested in Asian Internet startups, social me(show all)Francis Tanis the Asia editor of TNW, who is based in the Philippines. He is particularly interested in Asian Internet startups, social media and e-commerce. Get in touch with him via Twitter@francistanor Emailfrancis@thenextweb.com.
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