Apple has confirmed its shiny new iPad 2 will go on sale in 25 countries, including Ireland and the UK, on Friday. The device will be available in Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and additional countries from April, Apple said.
Sales of the device will begin online at 1am on 25 March and the device will be available in Apple authorised reseller stores at 5pm that day. In the US, the device sold out within hours of going on sale, with some 500,000 being bought on the first day.
“While competitors are still struggling to catch up with our first iPad, we’ve changed the game again with iPad 2,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.
“We’re experiencing amazing demand for iPad 2 in the US, and customers around the world have told us they can’t wait to get their hands on it. We appreciate everyone’s patience and we are working hard to build enough iPads for everyone.”
The iPad 2 will be available for a suggested retail price of €479 inc VAT (€395.87 ex VAT) for the 16GB model, €579 inc VAT (€478.51 ex VAT) for the 32GB model, €679 inc VAT (€561.16 ex VAT) for the 64GB model.
The iPad 2 with Wi-Fi + 3G will be available for a suggested retail price of €599 inc VAT (€495.04 ex VAT) for the 16GB model, €699 inc VAT (€577.69 ex VAT) for the 32GB model and €799 inc VAT (€660.33 ex VAT) for the 64GB model.
Global availability of the iPad 2
The device will be available in the following countries on 25 March: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.
The new device is 33pc thinner and 15pc lighter than the original iPad. It comes with a 9.7-inch LED-backlit LCD screen and Apple’s new dual-core A5 processor.
It also includes two cameras, a front-facing VGA camera for FaceTime and Photo Booth, and a rear-facing camera that captures 720p HD video, bringing the innovative FaceTime feature to iPad users for the first time.
Despite being thinner, lighter and faster than the original iPad, the iPad 2 still delivers up to 10 hours of battery life.
