Some fans had camped out overnight to get their hands on the new product, with about 40 enthusiasts already waiting outside the flagship Apple store in central London, at 3am (0200 GMT).
Most of them were sitting on deck chairs and some were wrapped in sleeping bags and blankets.
Staff escorted the first group of customers one by one up to buy their iPad after they opened the doors at 8am, whooping, chanting and cheering.
"I queued overnight for about 20 hours since midday yesterday but it was very, very worth it," Jake Lee, a 17-year-old student from Essex, told AFP, clutching his treasured iPad.
Actor, comedian and Twitter enthusiast Stephen Fry was among the first into the Regent Street store in central London. He said: "Just to see this is fantastic. It is a phenomenal event. There's never been anything like it."
Similar queues of gadget lovers could be seen snaked outside Apple shops in Australia, Japan and five other European countries, for the global product launch.
The rollout of the iPad -- a flat, 10-inch (25-centimetre) black tablet -- was pushed back by a month due to huge demand in the United States.
One million iPads were sold in 28 days after the product's US debut in early April, forcing the firm to delay its foreign launch.
The multi-functional device is tipped by some pundits to revitalise media and publishing, with many major newspapers and broadcasters launching applications.
Newspaper mogul Rupert Murdoch has said the iPad has the potential to save the newspaper industry.
Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky estimated that Apple is selling more than 200,000 iPads a week -- more than estimated Mac computer sales of 110,000 a week, and vying with iPhone 3GS sales of 246,000 a week.
California-based Apple has declined to reveal the number of pre-orders received for the iPad internationally, but Abramsky put it at around 600,000.
While scenes of iPad-mania have been broadcast around the globe, the launch has been tainted by reports of 11 suspected employee suicides at the Chinese factory which makes the iPad.
Apple said it would independently investigate the deaths at Foxconn, which also supplies electronic products for Dell and Hewlett-Packard. It said in a statement: "We are saddened and upset by the recent suicides at Foxconn. Apple is deeply committed to ensuring that conditions throughout our supply chain are safe and workers are treated with respect and dignity."
The iPad also went on sale on Wednesday in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland and launches will follow in July in Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, as well as Hong Kong, Mexico, New Zealand and Singapore.
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Labels: Apple , iPad
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