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Johannesburg - South African importers have begun taking orders for Apple's new iPad tablet device and expect to provide it to customers within days.
The iPad was launched in retail stores in the US on Saturday, and sold over 300 000 units on the first day. It is yet to be officially launched outside the US, however, making local products "grey" in that they are not supported by Apple.
Simon Swanich, MD of grey importer Have2have, said his customers can expect their iPads "very soon".
"Our first shipment is on the ground in South Africa and is waiting to clear customs," he said.
But RJ van Spaandonk, executive director of the Core Group which is Apple's official representative and sole distributor in South Africa, warned that purchasing grey products could lead to trouble for local iPad owners.
Apple has separate warranties for its portable computing products as it does for the iPhone and iPad, which it regards differently.
"The markedly different clause in the warranty stipulates that Apple may restrict service to the country where Apple or its authorised distributors originally sold the hardware product," said Van Spaandonk.
Beware - warranty may not apply
"At this point no Apple Authorised Service Provider - not even us - is authorised or equipped to service iPads. We cannot help, even if the customer were to have paid import duties, taxes, et cetera, and could prove it," he said.
"Furthermore, grey importers are not Apple authorised service providers and may not repair or exchange iPads."
Van Spaandonk said that when buying from a grey importer, the customer runs the risk that the warranty will not apply, since it is not transferable.
"If customers cannot wait, and buy in the US directly, they can at least claim warranty support in the US.
"If they buy it here in SA from a grey importer, they cannot claim warranty support from Apple and have to rely on the grey importer, which won't have access to such facilities from Apple," he said.
Have2have and other grey importers claim to provide their own warranty for the iPad and other devices they import.
Said Swanich, "When customers return Apple products to us we return them to Apple in the US and in 99.9% of cases we receive a replacement. We do not do repairs ourselves as we are not qualified to."
- Fin24.com
