Hmm strange - I'm in Australia and haven't had a problem finding ipads, however I guess it probably depends on the area.

As for other brands though, my partner has an acer tablet and has found it really easy to use and never had any problems. It took a while to get all of the apps (as you will need to download all the apps you mentioned) but afterwards it was pretty easy and we haven't had any problems with it.

Can't really compare with other brands though as we have only had this one and an ipad.