Dubai: With the global launch delayed by a month, an iPad price war has been building up between UAE based online resellers and retail outlets.
Since its launch in the US, there has been a lot of interest in acquiring the iPad as soon as it hits the UAE markets.
"In Dubai the pricing is very high and until it is officially launched, the pricing will continue to be higher than in the US.
"As more retailers get hold of the new product, the price will definitely come down. Right now they're taking advantage of the fact [that] it is a new product and there is a market for it even at the high price it is currently [at].
"Anything new in the market will always demand a premium," Shanker Iyer, general manager of E-max which is due to start retailing the product next week, said.
The current recommended retail price by Apple is $699 (Dh2,567) for the 64GB model , $599 (Dh2,200) for the 32GB and $499 (Dh1,832) for the 16GB model.
As demand increases in the UAE market, online retail outlets are battling it out for the best price.
Al-Shop.com is currently asking Dh4,599 for the 64GB, Dh3,899 for 32GB and Dh3,199 for the 16GB models.
Resellers at Souq.com have come down a slightly with their prices and are asking in the region of Dh3,000 for the 16GB model.
"iPad is currently the top search word per day on the website. The peak was a couple of days ago when we sold 30 units in a day and I predict that number will increase," Ronaldo Mouchawar, CEO of Souq.com told Gulf News.
Shopping around a bit more, you can find the same model selling for Dh2,799 at Nehal.com and Dh2,690 at Emiratesavenue.com.
"Initially the prices were much higher with less merchants selling the product reaching the Dh7,000 mark.
"But we've seen a lot more sales as the prices have down. For example on souq.com we now have about 160 different merchants competing for prices," Mouchawar said.
At its peak, when the iPad was first launched in the US, online retail outlets were asking for the premium prices of Dh6,000 for a 64GB, Dh5,250 for a 32GB, Dh4,500 for a 16GB model with shipping, duty and tax added on top.
