Thousands crowded around London when it launched there – but the official launch of the iPad in Dublin seems like it’s set to be something of a damp squib.

With city centre Apple resellers gearing up to sell Apple’s tablet device on opening this morning – with some shops summoning their staff to report for duty at 6:30am, ahead of anticipated 7am early openings – huge crowds were expected.

But the relatively small size of the Irish market – and the fact that the device had been available in Apple’s UK stores, including its outlet in Belfast’s Victoria Square, from May – seems to have poured cold water on early sales.

As TheJournal.ie visited one city centre store at 8am this morning – an hour after its anticipated opening – there were just 41 people queueing outside the store, many of them (like toddlers) obvious non-buyers.

The smaller queues may have been down to a general dispersal of sales outlets, however, with 13 outlets in Ireland reselling the device, rather than the usual Apple Store-only scenes witnessed elsewhere in the world.

PC World’s South Dublin store reported to have taken more cash at the till by 9am that it would ordinarily make on an average Friday, simply because of iPad sales alone.

(Updated at 11:30am)