In the basement of Paris's Louvre museum, the early line for Apple's iPad far surpassed that for entry to see the Mona Lisa. Hundreds queued up at the Apple store in the Carrousel du Louvre shopping center in the museum complex, with staff cheering every purchase, as sales outside the United States of the tablet computer began Friday. In Sydney, fans braved the chill of the Southern Hemisphere autumn to be among the first to buy the device, while in Tokyo people waited for as long as 40 hours to make a purchase. 'I tried to buy one in Seattle when I was there about 15 days ago, but they were sold out; so I decided to wait till it came to Europe,' said Julien Boidin, 28, who works for Microsoft in Paris and has an iPhone and a Macintosh computer. 'I live in Normandy and commute for four hours a day. I needed something for the train ride.' Following the sale of 1 million of the devices in less than a month of its April 3 debut in the U.S., the iPad is now available in Australia, Canada, Japan and six European countries. The maker of the iPhone and iPod, which this week became the world's most valuable technology company, has popularized a new category of computer between a smartphone and a laptop. Apple may sell 8 million iPads this year, according to Royal Bank of Canada. 'The thing with Apple is it's not just a piece of technology, it's actually the whole experience,' said Rahul Koduri, 22, an engineering student in Sydney, who arrived at 2 a.m. Thursday to be first in line. 'They just fit into your lifestyle so well. There's no other product that does it.' Apple delayed the release of iPads outside the United States after underestimating demand at home. In Europe, the iPad will be available in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Britain. Apple is betting the iPad, which starts at $618 in continental Europe -- more than the $499 it sells for in the U.S. to reflect higher value-added taxes -- will entice enough consumers willing to pay a premium over low-cost notebooks. Rivals such as Microsoft have failed to turn tablet computers into popular consumer devices. 'I don't really need it, but I want it,' said Jake Lee, a 17-year-old student, who camped overnight outside the store on London's Regent Street. 'I wanted to be one of the first people to get the iPad in the U.K.' Countries outside the U.S. are likely to account for 43 percent, or 3.5 million units, of iPad shipments this year, Mike Abramsky, an analyst at RBC in Toronto, wrote in a recent report. The U.S. will probably be the biggest market with 4.7 million units, followed by France with 805,000 and Britain, with 585,000, according to the report. The iPad has a 9.7-inch touch-screen display that lets users view books, magazines, video, play games and surf the Internet. Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs said the company sold 1 million iPads in the first 28 days, compared with the 74 days the iPhone took to reach that mark. Apple said this month that demand continues to exceed supply. 'I'm buying it for my friend in Malta because it's not available there yet,' said Isma Lanani, standing in line at the Louvre. 'He manages a hotel there, but this is for his personal use. He's Apple crazy.' Some British customers said they don't expect such a huge rush for iPads as in the U.S. 'Americans are very good at hyping these things up; perhaps British people are a bit more wary,' said Emily Dexter, 22, who works for a television production company. 'I'm not going to buy one because I can't afford it.' The iPad's first wave of reviews praised its ability to deliver digital books and video quickly, saying it measures up well against other devices, including Amazon.com.'s Kindle e-book reader. 'To all those people who don't think they need one, I just want to say, `you just wait and see,'' said Toru Iijima, a 39- year-old information technology professional in Tokyo. 'This is great for people who don't like computers. I want to get one for my grandparents and my child.' With assistance from Nichola Saminather in Sydney, Pavel Alpeyev and Mike Firn in Tokyo, Robert Fenner in Melbourne and Vidya Root in Paris. 