By Paul Hayes
SYDNEY, NSW: Local customers finally know when they can begin queuing for their new iPad, with Apple announcing their new tablet device will finally be available in Australia on Friday 28 May.
The announcement will no doubt come as welcome news to Australian consumers, who have already had to wait longer than first thought after Apple pushed the international release of the iPad back by a month due to stronger than anticipated US demand.
With the iPad available stateside since early April, many outside the US who didn’t want to wait have been turning to online auction sites for the latest device, often paying far greater prices than they would in-store.
Apple reported last week that the new device is selling at an even faster rate than its last must-have item, the iPhone, with the company selling more than one million iPads since its release.
The 28 May release date is also for Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.
The iPad will be available in Australia from the Apple Store, as well as the company’s retail stores and select authorised resellers, in 16 gigabyte (RRP$629), 32 gigabyte (RRP$759) and 64 gigabyte (RRP$879) Wi-Fi models.
Wi-Fi + 3G models will be available for RRP$799, RRP$928 and RRP$1049.
Pre-orders from Apple’s online store are available from today.