IPad2 demand includes repeat customers

LONDON, March 25 (UPI) -- A consumer research firm said 25 percent of iPad owners in Britain were ready to trade up when the iPad2 was released Friday.

Consumer intelligence.com said it had surveyed 438 iPad owners, finding that a quarter of them were ready for an upgrade. The first customer in line at Apple's flagship store on Regent Street, Jules Lewis, said he had no plans to sell his first iPad but would "keep it in the family." The Guardian reported.

In front of two Apple stores in London, one at Covent Garden and another on Regent Street, lines formed early for the launch of the second-generation tablet computer that is thinner, lighter and reportedly faster than the original model.

The Guardian reported that Apple had dropped its price for the iPad2 from $689 to $641 this week.

The initial supply of the iPad2 is expected to run out soon, the newspaper said. There were 20,000 made available at non-Apple stores in the initial shipments. In the United States, sales of the iPad2 surpassed 500,000 in its first weekend on the market.

In addition to Britain, the Friday launch involved 23 countries outside the United States.