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The short supply of Apple Pencil for the iPad Pro has caused owners to offer their stylus on eBay for up to $650. The average offer is $500.
CNN reports that because of the short supply and the four- to five-week wait for delivery, besides the item being sold on the ecommerce site, Apple Pencil in demo stations are being stolen. The Pencil is priced at $99.
Likewise, the Smart Keyboard is in short supply, with owners also selling the accessory on eBay from $200 to $650, although its official price is only $169. However, iPad Pro owners can substitute the Logitech keyboard available in some Apple stores.
The two in-demand items are used to convert the new Apple tablet into a portable workstation for artists, designers and serious notetakers. Apple fans were shocked with the release of the Pencil because Steve Jobs, co-founder of the company, hated styluses and killed in 1997 the Newton, a device that looks like a tablet with a stylus.
The Cupertino-based tech giant did not comment on reports of Pencil thefts which have been reported on Reddit, Twitter and blogs. But it did admit to a limited supply of the Pencil and the Smart Keyboard in Apple Retail stores which indicate customer excitement for the iPad Pro and the two accessories, according to an Apple spokesman.
Marco Arment, co-founder of Tumblr, recalls that he went to an Apple store on Friday and it carried on 20 Pencils that were purchased by one customer. The online backorder for the Pencil is four to five weeks, he tweets.
But with the delivery of the accessories in bigger quantity in the coming weeks, "The eBay scalpers' time to make any profit is VERY limited," says Armen who describes the shortage as "an embarrassing damper on the Pro launch."
Forbes agrees, saying that the iPad Pro has landed, but minus its landing gear fully deployed. It adds the Smart Keyboard is essential "for anything that approaches long-form writing or lots of data input." The alternative from Logitech, it describe as too big and too heavy but lacks the design savvy of an Apple peripheral.
