Apple said Friday that its highly anticipated iPad will be available on April 3, for Wi-Fi models and in late April for Wi-Fi + 3G models. In addition, all models of iPad will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK in late April.
The iPad has a lot of hype surrounding the product, much like the iPhone did when it first launched. While many have said that it’s just an oversized iPhone, others love the idea of a simple tablet based computer.
According to the press release, the iPad will be available “for a suggested retail price of $499 for 16GB, $599 for 32GB, $699 for 64GB. The Wi-Fi + 3G models will be available in late April for a suggested retail price of $629 for 16GB, $729 for 32GB and $829 for 64GB”.
While the prices may seem high for a glorified netbook, when compared to the Amazon Kindle DX which costs $489.00, the lower end iPad doesn’t seem too unreasonable.
Apple and Steve Jobs have built up a lot of hype around the iPad, but on April 3rd, the consumers will get to decide if this product will become main stream like the iPhone, or be just another “hobby” like Apple TV.