Don’t break your iPad, Apple implements lifetime iPad purchase limit

by: Bradley Wint on April 26th, 2010 at 6:12 am

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It turns out that Apple is limiting the number of iPads a customer can buy over their lifetime. Rather than just limiting them to two purchases per session, they have gone ahead to limit customers to two per lifetime. A guy over at the Protocol Show decided to help out his international NeoGAF friends by purchasing iPads from his local store, doing it one at a time. He believed he would be able to assist his friends getting it to them before the international release date. However, when he headed back to the store for the third time, he was told that there was a limit as to how many iPads he could buy.

The conversation went like this:

Guy #1 says to Guy #2 — “Hold on, I’ll be right back” and disappears to the stockroom again. Guy #2 is still clicking around, not looking at me.

Me (nonchalantly) — “Is there an issue?”

He’s still staring at his monitor and a few seconds pass before Guy #2 carefully says, “There is a limit to the number of iPads that customers can buy.”

Me (playing dumb) — “Oh, is that right? What’s the limit?”

Guy #2 — “Only 2 per customer.”

Ok, so the gig is up. I stand around waiting for a bit and was preparing to leave when Guy #1 returns.

Guy #1 — “I’m sorry sir, but you have reached your lifetime limit of iPad purchases and will not be allowed to buy any more.”

Me (anticipating that statement) — “Is the iPad limit per person? Per credit card? Per household?”

Guy #1 — “All I can say is that you have reached your lifetime limit.”

So is Apple limiting iPad purchases to all customers or were they targeting this guy? Is is not clearly known yet but it seems that there is a lifetime limit of two per person. At the moment, there didn’t seem any way Apple could have known he was shipping it overseas because he could have been buying the iPad for friends. So if you plan on either being a total Apple freak and buying 100000 iPads or just plan to smash them for fun, remember that there is now a limit. Hopefully in the future the limit will be dropped.

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Have Something To Say? 11 Others Did!

  • GetAclue – April 26th, 2010 – 6:46 PM

    Wow, impressive reporting. Did you confirm your breaking news by checking with another ground level retail sales person, because they are clearly the go to source for accurate third hand information.

    Never stopped to think they are limiting iPad purchases because it’s a new product with low supply and high demand until production is in full force. Never stopped to consider this is the exact same restriction when the new iPhone models were released, but I’m sure there are a lot of former iPhone users that don’t have phones anymore because their lifetime allotment is up, maybe we should ask them.

    Next time get a real source, not a friend of a friend that heard it from a floor retail salesperson.

    • Chris – April 26th, 2010 – 7:14 PM

      Hahaha, OWNED!

    • Fox McCloud – April 26th, 2010 – 7:55 PM

      Bravo sir! You tell him!

  • Barry – April 26th, 2010 – 7:54 PM

    GetAclue is right. They announced the day it came out that there would be a limit of 2 per customer at first. Just like any hot new product. If they don’t someone might buy 100 and sell them for 3 or 4 times the amount. The limit will be dropped when the ipad isn’t so new.

  • Bradley Wint – April 26th, 2010 – 8:05 PM

    @All- “I’m sorry sir, but you have reached your lifetime limit of iPad purchases and will not be allowed to buy any more.” … lifetime = not really addressing an initial sales problem. Strange no? and who goes out buying a ton load of iPads just like that… the occurrence is rare.

  • DirkDirk – April 26th, 2010 – 8:53 PM

    I think that longterm it would be hard if not impossible to maintain such a limit without some way of personally identifying someone without violating privacy laws. Apple wouldn’t have anyway to know who they are say 6 months later unless they registered there product. The way I would get around this is get a bunch of friends together, give them cash, and have them go buy iPads at the local Apple store.

  • Bahaha – April 27th, 2010 – 12:10 AM

    April fools!

    Oh wait, it’s nearly May

    • Bradley Wint – April 27th, 2010 – 12:18 AM

      LOL

  • nigger – April 27th, 2010 – 6:37 AM

    Apple are a bunch of cunts. They got the police to raid Gizmodo. CUNTS !!!!!
    When will that cunt Steve Jobs just fucking die of cancer.

  • Rupert – April 27th, 2010 – 12:34 PM

    Apple sucks the nutty nougat from the nether-regions of a donkey. Just another way for them to drive the fanboys into a frenzy over their limited and irrelevant products.

  • LordCancer – April 27th, 2010 – 11:00 PM

    what is the fascination with breaking expensive electronics like that? stupid.