Apple's "new iPad" drew die-hard fans to stores in Canada, the U.S. and eight other countries Friday, many of whom lined up for hours to be among the first to buy one.
The third version of Apple's iPad is available in the U.S. and nine other countries today beginning at 8 a.m. local time. The new model comes with a faster processor and a much sharper screen. It also boasts an improved camera, similar to that of the latest iPhone.
The new iPad brings with it a never seen before, 2048 by 1536 pixels retina display, which Apple promises would make everything on the screen "more lifelike." However, the enhanced viewing experience comes at storage cost.
An increased image resolution, translates into a higher file size. And although image sizes don't follow a 1:1 correspondence with resolution, thanks to image compression algorithms, they do increase in size quite a bit. Unfortunately the physical storage on iPad remains the same as before, which means that Retina optimized apps would occupy a larger portion of storage than before.
The new model, at prices starting at $519 in Canada, has more processing power, a much sharper screen and an improved camera, though the changes aren't as big as the upgrade to the iPad 2.
Apple fans queued in lingering lines in front of the stores with days before the iPad launch. Meanwhile, Apple employees dressed in blue T-shirts were bustling inside the stores. With minutes before the 8:00 a.m. release, they reached the fans and cheered and counted down together the last 10 seconds that announced the encounter with the third generation iPad.
There were certainly stories of some pretty chunky queues. The Washington Post, for example, reported that around 450 people were waiting outside the Ginza store in Tokyo when the doors opened.
The Register reported that there were hundreds outside of Apple’s Regent Street store in London, but that this queue quickly thinned once the doors had opened.
In Hong Kong, a steady stream of buyers picked up their new devices at preset times at the city's sole Apple store after entering an online lottery.
The system, which required buyers to have local ID cards, also helped thwart visitors from mainland China -- Apple's fastest growing market -- who have a reputation for scooping up Apple gadgets to get them earlier and avoid sales tax at home. A release date in China has not yet been announced.
Two years after the debut of the first iPad, the device's launch has become the second-biggest “gadget event” of the year, after the annual iPhone release. A year ago, thousands lined up outside the flagship Apple store on New York's Fifth Avenue. The device sold out on launch day, even though it didn't go on sale until 5 p.m.
Despite competition from cheaper tablet computers such as Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle Fire, the iPad remains the most popular tablet computer. Apple Inc. has sold more than 55 million iPads since its debut in 2010.
Apple’s share price hit $600 and it is expected to grow to $710 according to a Canaccord Genuity estimates and Gartner expects tablet sales to increase to 326 million by 2015, though the iPad has two strong rivals on the market, namely the Galaxy Tab and the Xyboard
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