iPads go on sale...equal iPhone frenzy

iPad, the latest gizmo from Apple's stables matched the hysteria generated by the company's previous launches, as it got off to a strong start over the weekend. Tech fanatics and Apple loyalists stormed retail stores in the US to pick up Steve Jobs' latest creation.

Apple probably sold more than twice as many iPads in its debut weekend as some analysts estimated. The iPad’s initial sales may have reached 700,000 units, according to Piper Jaffray & Co. But, Apple said it sold 450,000 iPads. Apple sold about 270,000 iPhones in its 2007 debut weekend.

But, despite huge crowds Apple had iPads available late in the opening day, signaling that the company was able to produce enough devices to meet initial demand. It may be recalled that when iPhone was introduced in 2007 it faced supply crunch.

Apple may sell about 5 million iPads in the first 12 months, compared with 6.1 million iPhones in its first year on the market. Researcher iSuppli says full-year sales may reach 7.1 million globally. iSuppli predicts that sales could double in 2011 and triple in 2012 as long as Apple gets its Flash memory situation under control.

Forrester Research, for example, has predicted first-year sales of three million.

Tablet PCs have been available in one form or another since the 1990s, but have not quite caught the imagination of the consumers. They account for less than 1% of the PC market, according to research firm Gartner.

iPad builds on the success of Apple’s iPhone and iPod, as Jobs attempts to tap the market between smartphones and laptop computers. Users can surf the Internet, peruse digital books, watch video and play games on the iPad. What it lacks is a built-in camera.

The iPad’s success will depend partly on the attractiveness of applications that run on it.

Saturday's launch was limited to the iPads that use a WiFi-only connection. The company will launch iPads that work on AT&T's 3G wireless network later in the month. So, some shoppers may wait for the 3G version.

Of those available iPads, the cheapest offered 16 GB of data storage at a price of US$499. Models featuring 32GB and 64GB of memory will be available for US$599 and US$699. The 3G iPads are expected to be priced at US$629, with Internet-access plans sold separately.

Separately, Apple unveiled the latest operating-system software for iPhone, adding features such as multitasking, a unified mail inbox and improved advertising capabilities for application developers. Apple CEO Steve Jobs showed off many of the features of the iPhone OS 4.0 operating system.

No specific launch date was given. A developer preview kit for the new software was also released. The operating-system update for the company's newly launched iPad will not be available until this fall. The new operating system will come with more than 100 new features over its previous version.