Russian Mobile Carrier Starts Selling SIM Cards for iPad with No iPad in Sight

Today one of the Russian mobile carriers starts selling a very interesting product: microsim cards for usage in iPad along with contracts. What’s so interesting about this product? Of course its launch date: selling microsims that enable use of a device that is not officially available in Russia is quite interesting. And the date of iPad launch date is absolutely unclear, especially given that international sales of iPad keep getting postponed and Russia is rarely even in the second line of countries to get the coolest Apple products (definitely UK, other major European countries and Australia will be the first after the US – especially given pleas of the people there dying to be able to get their hands on the famous Apple tablet).

So who is going to buy the microsim cards on a contract basis – without any certain prospects regarding when they will be able to start actually using them? The initial batch ordered by the Russian carrier is pretty small – only 2,000 cards – but chances are this batch will easily be sold because the target audience is perfectly clear already.

The thing is that sales of the cards may prove to be a worthwhile indication of another factor: how active Russians are in bringing the gadgets from the US for their personal use or to resell online to anyone who might want to own one right now – at a price point of about $800.

There are three large mobile carriers in Russia and the first one promises to start selling the microsims in its online store (with plans to make them available in retail outlets as well in June). Another carrier also claims the microsim cards will be available in the second half of May while the third carrier is actually in the process of negotiations with Apple to import and sell iPads itself. It is not quite clear where exactly iPad will be sold in Russia but for now it seems that it will be available from regular resellers as well, not only from mobile carriers and their affiliated retailers which is the case with iPhone.

And while it is not known who will be selling iPad here, the most intriguing thing is that as far as I am aware, no one can even tell the exact date when iPad will be available in Russia or its exact price – though the speculations suggest it will cost twice as much as it is in the US. Rumors suggest July or August as the official launch date but no official proof exists for the fact for now so I would not expect any of such forecasts to be entirely accurate until I see some real evidence.

The only real-life thing about the entire presence of iPad in Russia I have witnessed myself was when I visited an online store of some electronics retailer looking for something and saw a huge banner ad announcing that iPad will soon be sold in this very store and inviting me to pre-order it. Curious about the price and other conditions, I clicked the ad right away – and imagine my disappointment when I realized that this “pre-order” thing merely involved entering my email address for them to notify me when the gadget is available.

Now don’t get me wrong: I have no intention of buying an iPad here in Russia at the double price even if at some point I do decide that I actually want to have one – but shopping and curiosity are two things I generally cannot resist so offering me to enter my email only was a total disappointment.

Anyway I have a feeling that I will see iPads here in Russia used pretty soon even despite of the fact that it is not sold in Russia – after all, the one million devices sold hardly went to the US users only and I’ve already heard many stories of people bringing full suitcases of iPads on flights from the US to Moscow. And given that today I have already been asked if I could help in buying four iPads for an acquaintance in the US to bring them here I am quite positive the microsim cards will be sold pretty well here – even despite of the fact that they are intended for a device that is not supposed to be in the country at all.

Via (in Russian)