Edible Apple

Despite production issues, compounded recently by the explosion at a Foxconn factor late last week, the iPad 2 is poised to hit a few more countries later this week.  On Friday May 27, Apple’s “magical” tablet will go on sale in Russia, the Ukraine, Chile, and Brazil.

Retailers in Russia are expecting huge sales out of the gate, citing “unprecedented demand”. All told, seven electronics retailers in Russia will offer the device with the retail chain Re:Store leading the way. Others include MediaMarkt, Beliy Veter Cifrovoi, M.Video, ION, Technosila, Eldorado, and z-Store.

Interesting names, to say the least.

One sales manager at a retail store planning on offering the iPad 2 explained that pre orders are already higher than the number of orders they first saw with the original iPad. Cost wise, the base iPad 2 model in Russia will go for 18,990 roubles ($667) with the high-end 64GB model going for 30,990 rubles ($1,088).

Re: Store PR director Ludmilla Seushina was unabashed in his high expectations for the iPad 2:

Following unprecedented demand from customers in Germany, Denmark and Norway, where the first batch of iPad 2 was sold inside three days, we are expecting all iPad 2’s to be sold even faster in Russia. We have offered our customers the opportunity to place pre-orders since April and have already received more requests than for first iPad when it came out on the market. I think there will be a deficit, assuming strong demand and problems with spare parts supply from Japan and China.

The iPad 2 hitting the Ukraine is particularly noteworthy since this is the first time it’s been available in the country. There, the base model iPad 2 will go for approximately $670 while the high-end 64GB 3G model will go for $1,100. And you wonder why there’s such a hot gray market for the device abroad.