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Best Buy halts iPad 2 sales due to short supply

The electronics retailer has suspended sales of the iPad 2 as the tablet continues to sell out. Stores contacted in So. Calif. got an e-mail Friday morning ordering the suspension.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Best Buy has suspended sales of the iPad 2 due to "supply constraints," the retailer said today.

"Our stores have been asked to temporarily hold non-reserved iPad 2 inventory for an upcoming promotion," Best Buy spokesman Jeff Haydock said in response to an e-mail query today. "Best Buy continues to receive iPad 2 inventory from Apple on a regular basis. As we've said previously, we are fulfilling customer reservations first," he wrote.

"This is a customary practice for us when there are supply constraints. Best Buy enjoys a great partnership with Apple and we're delighted by the customer response to iPad 2," he wrote.

This follows a report about a halt on iPad 2 sales at Best Buy published by CrunchGear yesterday.

Best Buy has temporarily halted sales of the iPad 2.
Best Buy has temporarily halted sales of the iPad 2. Best Buy

At least two Best Buy stores in Southern California--one in Encinitas and the other in San Marcos--have been told to stop selling the iPad 2. "We've been told to fulfill preorders but hold all other inventory," a representative at Best Buy in San Marcos said today. And a representative at a Best Buy in Encinitas said this decree came by e-mail today.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

CNET staff writer Josh Lowensohn contributed to this report.