Stefan Mileschin

Apple's hopes that a cheaper version of its iPad might sell well in Asia floundered after its fanboys failed to turn up and buy it.

While Apple's technology has done well in Asia, with kids prepared to sell a kidney to get one, it appears that the the roll out of the iPad Mini is not generating the same hype as in the past.

Instead of long queues and riots only a handful of Apple fans lined up in several Asian cities to get their hands on the iPad Mini.

It seems that customers did the math and looked at the spec and the fact that the toy was priced above rival gadgets from Google and Amazon.com and stayed at home.

According to Reuters, similar scenes were noted in Australia. Only 50 people waited for the Apple store in Sydney, Australia, to open, where in the past the line had stretched for several blocks.

Those who were in the queue really did not know what they were buying. For example, Patrick Li thought that the smaller tablet, with poorer graphics, was better than the original iPad. We guess he thought that because it was new it must be better.

The huge Apple store in Tokyo managed to have 100 or more outside but staff at the Hong Kong store appeared to outnumber those waiting in line.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster who normally claims that Apple gear will sell trillions said that Apple will likely sell between 1 million and 1.5 million iPad Minis in the first weekend, far short of the 3 million third-generation iPads sold last March in their first weekend.

He blames the lack of the wireless option and newness of the smaller form factor for consumers. He thinks that users will get used to this.

http://news.techeye.net/hardware/ipa...-youth-in-asia