Apple iPad 2 and Nintendo 3DS land in Europe, ready to hit the stores at 5pm

Today is a big day for the old continent. The Apple iPad 2 and Nintendo 3DS have just hit the shelves. Huge lines, stock shortages and online shipping delays of up to four weeks mark the iPad launch day. The iGadget also premieres in Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico and New Zealand.

The Nintendo 3DS launch also caused huge lines of impatient fans looking to get the popular console.

The iPad 2 shortages straight from Day One were inevitable as the US experience showed. If you order it from the Apple Store Online you’ll have to wait “3-4 weeks” to get it.

The confirmed iPad 2 retailers so far are the Carphone Warehouse, Argos, Best Buy, John Lewis, Comet and Currys. They will all start selling the tablet at 5pm UK time today.

In case you want the big guy today, you should be on some of those lines already. Otherwise you will have to wait a few weeks more. The cheapest 16GB Wi-Fi only model goes for €479 (£399).

The carrier-subsidized (Vodafone, Three) iPad 2 WiFi+3G start from £229 (one-off charge) on two-year contract coupled with a £27 data plan. The 32GB goes for £279 and the 64GB is £379.

Today the iPad 2 will become available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. More countries will follow later this year.

Nintendo 3DS launch is also scheduled for today. You can get it from various (online) retailers for €220 (£185). The original Nintendo DS has sold more than 145 million units worldwide since its release in late 2004. I guess the new 3DS console will raise the same enormous interest and become an all-time best-seller as well. I am sure Nintendo has taken care of the shipments so you won’t have to wait days, weeks or so.

Source