By Herman Lai, posted Oct 26, 2012 at 5:42 AM, 2,195 views,

iPad Mini Pre-Orders Sold Out in 2 Minutes in Hong Kong? (Update)

Pre-orders for the iPad mini went live at 3 in the afternoon and they seemingly went like hotcakes. Just within two minutes, all the iPad mini’s pre-orders were sold out on Apple Online Store in Hong Kong. How is this suppose to sell out within just a few minutes? It is unreasonable. Hong Kong seems to be a special case while Apple is still accepting pre-orders in other countries. What happen with Hong Kong Apple online store?

Why is Hong Kong the latest region for pre-ordering the iPad Mini?

Hong Kong is the latest region that Apple starts accepting pre-orders of iPad Mini. It began sometimes in between 6-8 pm (HK Time), while other countries start at 3 pm (HK Time). Seemingly, it’s a strategy that Apple utilized to withstand huge demands from scalpers in Hong Kong, so Apple can have a better control of its inventory and distributed the stocks more evenly among countries in order to solve shortage issue. Previously, an analyst from DisplaySearch disclosed there could be a shortage of units due to a shortage of supply in the 7.9-inch screen market, since the display supplier AUO only managed to ship 100,000 screens for the iPad mini in September.

— Pre-order an iPad Mini at Hong Kong Apple Online Store here.

Apple store went down at around 12:00 (HK time), and it started accepting pre-orders around 15:01 (HK time). Two minutes later, the store said “temporally out of stock”. There’re only two possibilities that could explain why it ran out so quickly.

1. The scalpers have utilized an automated booking system to scramble iPad mini’s pre-orders on Apple online store.
2. Apple only opened the pre-ordering system for 2 minutes. Teasing people and scalpers especially.

“We’re teased by Apple! I have been refreshing the pages from this morning until now, and I can’t even pre-order a unit!”

“Loss for words. It said pre-order starts on the 26 October, bullshit! Such an annoying marketing strategy.”

“Why can’t Apple just set an exact time to start the system? Wasting my time.”

“WTF? People in America said it is still accepting pre-orders. What the fxxk with Hong Kong?”

Our editor Chris Chang tried to pre-order an iPad mini this morning, and he has been waiting for the pre-order system to start from 9 o’clock this morning until 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Apparently, he could not place an order just like the others.

Almost every single comments on this thread are complaining they can’t pre-order the device. So did Apple tease the customers in Hong Kong? Right now, the only thing that Hong Kong Apple fans can do is to wait for Apple’s lottery-like reservation system that will begin on November 2. However, with the reservation system, it’s extremely difficult to get a reservation.

The reservation system allows shoppers to reserve a iPad mini at a newly set up page on the Apple online store between 9 a.m. and noon. Then, they are asked to provide contact information and government ID, and must show the matching ID when they go to the store. A lottery-like system notifies them if they’ve been issued a reservation. Customers who fail to receive one will have to try again another day. How can Apple fans get an iPad mini? Is the grey market the only place where Hong Kongers could buy the tablet?

Furthermore, we also found that the iPhone 5 pre-order system on Hong Kong Apple online store is not working today. We’re wondering if that’s related what Tim Cook said about the mainland iPhone 5 launch during the Q4 results conference earlier.