The scarce supplies and huge demand worldwide for the iPad 2 are creating a new market in places like New York City, where large groups of “investors” are camping out, often overnight, to buy the device in droves.
The reason for freezing it out all night outside an Apple store is that plenty of people are reportedly raking in profits through resale of the coveted tablet, mainly in China, where the device was originally manufactured.
Some are even said to be making up to $400 a day by reselling their device on sites like eBay for a sizable mark up of around 400-500%.
The New Times has reported that most of the iPad squatters purportedly attempting to buy the tablet for a family member at an Apple store in New York City’s SoHo area appeared to be Chinese immigrants, who are likely to make more money hocking goods for resale than a low-wage job would provide.
On eBay, where most devices end up for auction, the basic 16-GB Wi-fi-only version and the 64-GB with 3G data connection account for the majority of re-sold models. Ebay says the reselling efforts on the low-end iPad 2 are selling for $198 above the $500 retail price while the $830 high-end model is selling for an incredible $406 more.
This is not the first time Apple devices have been targeted as a reseller’s dream. A similar trend occurred in 2010 with the launch of the iPhone 4 back in September. Apple has yet to respond to the reselling efforts, perhaps due to the fact that multiple sales by a single customer may be preferable to the company.
