(Video courtesy of AppleInsider)

You’d think that the iPad would be old news by now after being released in the U.S. back in April, but don’t tell that to the buyers waiting in long lines in nine countries where it went on sale for the first time Friday -- for them, it’s launch day!

AppleInsider is reporting that Apple appears to have another successful international iPad launch on their hands, especially judging by the YouTube video embedded below from the Times Square Apple store in Hong Kong.

In addition to Hong Kong, the iPad rolled out Friday in Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore as well. One local vendor who’s made a good business out of importing iPads from the U.S. and U.K. told The Wall Street Journal that the Hong Kong launch was “crazy.”

Unlike the U.S. launch where the Wi-Fi and 3G models were separated by nearly a month, Friday’s international launch has both versions in ample supply at both Apple retail stores as well as Apple authorized resellers in the nine new countries. More countries are on the way in the coming months, although Apple has yet to announce pricing and availability for those locales.

The launch has apparently been successful enough that stock is already low or depleted in some cases. "At an Apple reseller in Hong Kong’s Wanchai neighborhood, instead of a line, shoppers were greeted with a multi-page waiting list," one report said. "The store didn’t expect to have any more iPads available for at least two weeks."

Kurt Lo, the aforementioned Hong Kong iPad import vendor, has been using the help of “friends” to import the device from both the U.S. and the U.K. Even though the device is now available in his home country, he’s seeing a spike in orders from neighboring China and Vietnam, where the tablet is still not available. His sales to those countries were averaging between 200-300 prior to Friday’s launch, but now that the iPad is available in Hong Kong, the orders have actually increased to 300-400 per week.



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