A student gamer says he ran into a “lifetime limit” of two iPads when he attempted to buy more of Apple’s tablet devices. The report seems bizarre since Apple has not reported iPad inventory problems. So the iPad “lifetime limit” may have been an isolated incident at Apple’s Los Angeles store. Apple says more than 500,000 iPads have been sold.

Apple is surely overjoyed that its iPads are flying off the shelves. So why would it turn away any paying customer Relevant Products/Services, let alone one who wants a whole batch of them?

That’s apparently what happened at a Los Angeles Apple Store when a medical student and gaming blogger began buying the hot tablet device two at a time. He admits he was sending them overseas, where the device won’t be commercially available until next month. But he didn’t say how many he had purchased. Apple says it has sold more than 500,000 iPads in the first month in the United States.

Snow Job

The man, who identifies himself as Protocol Snow, was told that he had exceeded Apple’s “lifetime limit” of two devices, although he had already purchased more than that. The man, whose first name appears to be Andy based on his e-mail, writes that he was supplying fellow members of a gaming network Relevant Products/Services, NeoGAF, with the device and charging them just over his cost to cover shipping, PayPal fees, and other expenses.

Apple placed a two-person limit on pre-orders of the iPad before its April 3 debut, but this is the first word of a post-launch ration. A per-customer limit seems bizarre since the device will surely see numerous generations and business users or families may want to buy larger quantities. Such a ban would be almost impossible to enforce, especially for cash purchasers.

Apple didn’t respond to our request for comment in time for publication, nor did Protocol Snow.

But Jeff Orr, a mobile-devices analyst at ABI Research who covers the iPad, said that even with brisk sales there doesn’t appear to be any shortage of the tablet that would necessitate a limit.

Managing Inventory?

“This seems to be specific to a single store, and could be about how they are managing inventory and trying to serve more customers,” said Orr. “There is perhaps an interest in trying to stem any sales for resale.”

He said Apple appears to have avoided a repeat of the dearth that occurred when it introduced the first iPhone several years ago, when some retailers and entire states were out of inventory.

“There doesn’t appear to be any lack of product,” said Orr. “At this point it sounds like demand is being satisfied. People can go in and get them at will.”

We’ll soon know if the iPad is as well received in other parts of the world as it is domestically. But one place where Apple won’t have to worry about selling more than two per customer is Israel, which says the device does not comply with its frequency specifications and is preventing the device from entering the country. On Thursday a member of Israel’s parliament, Robert Llatov, called on the country’s communications Relevant Products/Services regulator to lift the ban, which he called “inappropriate.”

But Orr said each country has a right to set certification Relevant Products/Services requirements for electronics products.

“As a product manufacturer, Apple must pass the requirements of each country to sell product there,” he said. “Products entering a country that have not passed certifications should not be permitted.”

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