HOTNOT
[PHOTO - The 3rd Generation iPad continues to launch
around the world to long lines in many locations. The iPad is launching in ten
countries including the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong,
Japan, Singapore, Switzerland and the UK. ]
HONG KONG/SYDNEY, MARCH 17, 2012 (BULLETIN) (Reuters) — Apple's new iPad proved to be
another hot-seller Friday, with hundreds queuing at stores across Asia to be the
first to get their hands on the 4G-ready tablet computer as the company's share
price hit $600 for the first time.
As consumers lined up around city streets to buy the iPad, one firm that took
the new device apart said Qualcomm, Broadcom, and Samsung Electronics had all
held onto their prized roles as key parts suppliers.
David Tarasenko, a 34-year-old construction manager who was the first to pick
up the iPad from a Telstra store at midnight in Sydney, said ever since Apple
Chief Executive Tim Cook revealed the tablet's third iteration, he couldn't wait
to get one.
"When Tim Cook announced it, it sounded like such a magical tool. I just got
hyped into it, I guess," he said.
The new iPad is a progressive development of Apple's tablet, with a more
powerful CPU and screen and better camera. It was not marketed as a
revolutionary product like earlier versions, yet Apple devotees still snapped up
the latest version.
"The iPad is already a pretty mature product and it's hard to revolutionize
it any further," said Dickie Chang, an analyst with research firm IDC based in
Hong Kong.
"It's slightly heavier than its predecessors and I think Asian consumers will
be more concerned about that," he said.
"Going ahead, with Tim Cook at the helm now, I think he may have to come up
with another product to mark his stamp. That could come in the form of launching
a smaller iPad with a longer battery life, for instance."
[PHOTO - Paris was the most impressive line photo we received. This
photo at approximately 10pm local time showed hundreds lined up at Apple's Store
in Paris. (Thanks Matthew)]
Crowds were down on previous Apple launches, but there was still excitement
as stores opened. "I've come from Russia to buy an iPad for my three-year-old
son David," Oleg Konovalov, a newspaper salesman, told Reuters in Tokyo.
"Everyone in Russia wants an iPad, but to buy it there I will have to wait
several months." "This reminds me of the time 30 years ago when I waited 8 hours
in the cold to see Lenin's Mausoleum." The buzz helped propel Apple shares to
record highs in U.S. trade on Thursday, with Apple stock touching a high of
$600.01 before easing back.
It peaked half an hour after the first iPad went on sale in Australia,
extending the market worth of the world's most valuable company to almost $560
billion.
Only a month earlier, the stock price had crossed $500 for the first time.
The stock has jumped 45 percent this year.
At Thursday's closing price of $585.56, the stock is far more expensive than
the $499 starting price for a Wi-Fi iPad.
Queues And Smugglers
The new iPad goes on sale on Friday in 10 countries, including the United
States, Canada, Singapore, France and Britain, with diehards lining up overnight
in front of Apple stores in Munich, Paris, London, Singapore and Hong Kong.
"After this, well, I'll first of all open it up and check it's as beautiful
as I thought. Then I'll get some sleep," said Shintaro Aizawa, 16, who waited 15
hours outside a Tokyo store.
Just across the border from Hong Kong in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, people
keen to get their hands on the new iPad had to wait for the tablet to be
smuggled into mainland China.
"We don't have iPad 3s yet, but some will arrive later in the day when the
students deliver them to us. We'll have more supplies over this weekend," said a
store operator in Shenzhen.
"Customs has become stricter, but if you take one at a time across the
border, that's still pretty safe. At most they'll ask you to take it out of the
box to prove that it's for self use."
Wall Street expects a strong start for the latest iPad and some analysts even
expect sales of the current model to overtake the iPad 2. Apple will continue to
sell the iPad 2 but dropped its price by $100 to start at $399.
Apple may sell 65.6 million iPads, according to an estimate by Canaccord
Genuity analysts who also raised their target price on Apple stock to $710 from
$665. So far, the company has sold 55 million iPads since it was launched in
2010.
Tablet sales are expected to increase to 326 million by 2015 with Apple
largely dominating the market, according to research firm Gartner. The iPad
competes with Samsung Electronic's Galaxy and Motorola's Xyboard, among others.
Improvement Not Innovation
PHOTO - Finally, despite launch day availability, there are scalpers
in Hong Kong already, looking to take advantage of any short supply. (Thanks
Andy)]
Those who pre-ordered the new iPad early enough should start receiving them
on Friday. The new iPad will also be available in Apple Retail, Wal-Mart as well
as Verizon and AT&T stores.
The third-generation iPad is seen more as a collection of incremental
improvements, such as a high-definition "retina" display and a better camera,
rather than a major innovation.
Online reviews of the new iPad overwhelmingly praised Apple for its improved
screen resolution.
"My epiphany came when I placed my iPad 2 next to the new model, with the
same text on the screen. Letters and words that had seemed sharp on the older
model five minutes earlier suddenly looked fuzzier," said one online reviewer.
The inner workings of the iPad are similar to previous models, based on a
"teardown" by a tinkerer from California gadget-repair firm iFixit, who queued
up in Australia to get one of the new tablets and quickly took it apart for a
Web blog.
iFixit cofounder Luke Soules' pre-dawn teardown at a Melbourne computer shop
found Apple suppliers Qualcomm, Broadcom and Samsung had maintained their key
roles in the newest iPad.
The iPad includes a Qualcomm LTE cellphone chip and a Qualcomm wireless modem
for 3G and 4G. Broadcom supplies a semiconductor handling wireless tasks like
WiFi and Bluetooth, according to iFixit.
PHOTOS ARE FROM
http://www.macrumors.com/
Thanks guys!
Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi
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