QingmingFestival
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Paper iPad 2 sells out in Malaysia for use in afterlife rituals
It appears that Apple isn't the only company having trouble keeping up with the huge demand for the iPad 2. Throughout Asia, many ethnic Chinese individuals are celebrating the Qingming Festival. During this festival, living relatives honor their dead ancestors by cleaning their grave sites and burning paper replicas of useful and high-ticket items. The idea is that by burning the faux items, they're made available for the dearly departed to use in the afterlife. Usually, the paper replicas include items like shoes, fancy clothing, designer purses and cars. But a Malaysian shopkeeper reports in a Reuters news post that paper iPads -- both first and second generation -- have been flying off of the shelves of his prayer item store. Jeffrey Te had received 300 iPad 2 replicas from China, which sold out quickly. The paper iPads are sold with a capacity of 888 GB, that number being considered a favorable one in Chinese culture. The price tag on the iPads? About a dollar. The store also sells some amazingly realistic looking iPhone 4s, as well as replicas of devices made by other manufacturers. As among the living, however, not everyone in the afterlife may need or want a high-tech gadget, so the more traditional items like paper sofas and chests full of fake paper money are still big items in Te's store. There's video on the next page.
China's dead affected by iPad 2 shortages of a different sort
In life as in death, it seems, getting your hands on an iPad 2 is no easy feat. Reuters is reporting today that paper replicas of the tablet are selling out in parts of Asia, as revelers prepare to set the things ablaze during China's Qingming festival Tuesday. As is tradition, paper versions of money, clothing, and, yes, consumer electronics are burned as offerings to the dead, and this year Apple's latest slate is apparently all the rage for expired techies -- one shopkeeper in Malaysia said his stock of 300 paper iPad 2s sold out quickly, leaving him unable to meet demand. Sounds strangely familiar, doesn't it?
