Couldn’t get an iPad 2? Blame Russia

iThings are superpopular among a certain set in Moscow. They tend to be middle class, work in media or design, have at least two Twitter accounts, a Facebook page and a LiveJournal blog. They probably wear hipster frames. Irony and snark are second nature.

But how to get these iThings to Moscow, one of the world’s most expensive cities? Old generation iPhones and iPads go for about $1,000 here, sometimes much more. So it’s much easier (and, sometimes, cheaper) to fly to New York and buy straight from the source.

That’s what Alex Shumilov did on Friday, becoming the fourth in line at the Apple store on Fifth Avenue as the iPad 2 went on sale. He bought two – and plans to sell them for four times their value back home. He wasn’t the only one.

So if you couldn’t get an iPad 2, blame Russia.