Apple's iPad 2 Hits Sydney Stores

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Apple enthusiasts spent the night outside a store to get their hands on iPad 2, newly launched in Sydney, Australia. Stores are expected to sell out of the hugely popular device in a matter of hours, or even minutes.

Hundreds of customers lined up outside Apple stores in Australia and New Zealand on Friday for the international launch of the iPad 2, which has flown off the shelves in the U.S., leaving the company struggling to meet demand.

The iPad 2, a thinner and faster version that features two cameras for video chat, was introduced in the United States on March 11.

Sales kicked off in Australia at 5pm local time, and excited customers lined outside the glass-fronted Apple store in Sydney's central business district.

Some customers were waiting in line for more than 24 hours.

[James Dounis, Apple Fan]:
"It is exciting because we haven't done it before and just the atmosphere, everyone else is here, everyone is looking forward to the same thing you are, so it is just a whole different experience altogether."

Apple staff in Sydney, dressed in the company's trademark blue shirts, handed out trays of sandwiches to those in the queue, some of whom spent the night on blankets laid out on the streets.

Those who managed to purchase the item were delighted.

"Very happy."

"Looking forward to playing with it, yes very excited."

"I am expecting a flawless, flawless design, in terms of software, hardware and its integration."

The iPad 2's retail price in Australia starts at A$579, almost $70 more than in the United States.

The first iPad, which went on sale a year ago, sold 500,000 units in the first week and crossed the 1 million unit mark in 28 days. Nearly 15 million iPads were sold in nine months of 2010 – two or three times as many as analysts had predicted.