The only part of this article I agree with is the part about customers unknowingly buying the 3rd generation after the 4th generation was released.
There was no way for the average customer to distinguish between them and here in Ireland I thought it was really bad to walk into a store and see the 3rd generation still on sale at Christmas with the same price tag as the 4th generation.
But again, the fault is in the Brazilian import system, not APPLE. Stores in the US only had weeks of inventory, and obviously were able to put them on sale over the holiday.
To sell to Brazil... Takes an extra 2 months because their government won't guarantee the certification process isn't leaked... So certification doesn't START until the US launch in March.
Brazilian stores can't even order until June or July when the device is cleared by the government. (please pay money to help speed these along Applw) Then Apple has to ship them and the STORES have to get them through customs. Again Brazil and Customs corruption for electronics is rampant. It can take two months just to get a box of iPads off the dock... And probably more bribes to get them All. Not to mention paying that crazy 100% import tariff UP FRONT.
Given the time delay, stores would have to pay Apple for the FULL shipment weeks before receiving the stock... Meaning they can't have sales because they had to sink money..., in the USA stores can get the iPads SOLD before the invoice due date catches up in the mail... So if they have a sale, they don't LOSE INVESTED money or taxes.
So by the time a normal honest store got their iPad 3 stock in it was probably August... They had sunk the full price, plus taxes, waited 60 days to get the units... So literally, the iPad "4" was released mere weeks after normal lawful stores got their iPad 3 units.
But how much of that is APPLE'S problem???