Technophiles splash the cash to get hands on tablet device

WITH a hefty starting price of €499 in these recessionary times, one would have been forgiven for expecting the first day of sales of Apple’s iPad computer to have gone with more of a whimper than a bang.

Even setting aside the price (which ain’t easy in this day and age especially as it rises to €799 for the top model), it’s not a phone (thankfully unless you want to appear like a Trigger-Happy TV character) and as a computer one would need to be dedicated to try to tap out a masterpiece on its keyboard.

Yet in the Compu b store in Cork city, manager Ger Manley reported that by 10am, his staff had sold up to 80 of the devices in just 55 minutes.