My experience buying iPad2, as well as the diversity of Android tablets in Europe

Foreword

I want to share my experience buying iPad2 in Eastern Europe. I can say right away that the experience is not entirely successful, so the information will be useful for those who are going to combine business with pleasure as I do (rest and buy a device).

Purchase

To begin with, when planning my vacation I didn’t dwell on buying something, but it just so happened that both time and money allowed me to go shopping. I created a question in the QA Habr, added tags to my map, and decided that the case was 90% done. Still, Europe, a large number of specialty stores and the availability of money had to satisfy any wish of the geek.

The first store in Prague with a bit of an apple on the sign pleased me with good prices for iPad2, and if you subtract 16% of TAX FREE, it's generally wonderful. Given that there were about 6 exhibition samples in the store, I decided that there would be no problems with the availability of devices for sale either. Then there was a trip to other stores to compare prices, prices generally differed by 10 percent maximum, so the cheapest option was chosen, and I went to change money. This was a major mistake, because I did not even ask about the presence of devices.

In the first store, a smiling salesman reported that they had pre-orders for ipads for 28 days (iWorld), and only exhibition samples were exhibited in the store. In the second store (iSpot) I was told that they also have only exhibition samples, and when they have devices for sale they don’t even know. In the third store, to my question “I need an ipad2,” the seller replied that he also needed it, but they were not on sale. I was a little upset, but before I left I managed to google, that in the event of such a situation, you can order this device in local online stores. Having a little tormented searching stores from my Android smartphone (it wasn’t very convenient, because I used google translate a little through the ass), I found 10 stores with suitable delivery terms. But the joke was that everywhere pre-order from 10 to 28 days, and if you want to get iPad2 today, you can relax, behind them is such a line that the stores will not remember about you.
My next desire was to buy at least some ipad, or android tablet, but what was my bummer when I found the ipad in only two stores - in the first the price was higher than the second, but I’m not talking about the android at all - except the strange crafts for $ 250, I did not find anything! No xoom, no other advertised devices.
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It was a bummer, but there were still several cities and countries ahead, so I didn’t worry too much. Next was Vienna, in which I found two stores within the central ring. The situation is one-on-one in Prague - there are several exhibition samples in the window, the prices are good, but not available, and it is not known when it will be. In small shops there was an option to take a white iPad2 + 3G 32GB for 1000 euros, but this is not the price I was willing to pay for the tablet. Plus, in Vienna, the same plight of Android tablets. True, during the last trip I found a specialized Android store with a dozen tablets in Salzburg, but in Vienna I did not notice this.

Next was Krakow, namely a hike through the shopping centers. I did not really hope, but it was worth checking out. The 2 stores found pleased with a large number of exhibition samples, but also upset by the lack of devices for sale. In ordinary hardware stores, I have not even met the galaxy tab, so in Poland the situation with Android tablets can be considered even worse.

I had such general impressions - Eastern Europe still doesn’t use tablets much, and if someone does, it’s an iPad. If I met people with Apple tablets (on the street, in the subway, in a cafe), then I never met Android tablets on the street. Even in Ukraine, I meet a lot more people with tablets, I don’t even know how to explain it. So if you plan your vacation in such a way that 100% purchase the device you need - look to the west, this will help you save your nerves and time for searching.

PS About the shops of mobile operators (T-Mobile, O2, etc. I did not write, because there the situation is the same as everywhere except the galaxy tab).