The Cupertino giant on Friday staged a low-key launch for its new iPad in China, which was quite unlike the chaotic scene witnessed during the launch of its earlier products.
"I'm very surprised that there is no line. I thought there was going be a long line so I came over a bit earlier to pick it up," Sun Xufei, an IT worker who was the first in line of a small queue of around 20 people waiting outside the Shanghai Lujiazui Apple store, told Reuters.
The launch of Apple's new iPad came after the leading smartphone and iPhone maker settled the trademark dispute with Proview Technology by paying $60 million.
The new iPad features a stunning new Retina display, Apple's new A5X chip with quad-core graphics, a 5-megapixel iSight camera with advanced optics for capturing amazing photos, and 1080p HD video recording capabilities. The tablet still delivers the same all-day 10 hour battery life while remaining amazingly thin and light.
The new iPad Wi-Fi models will be available in black or white for a suggested retail price of $499 (US) for the 16GB model, $599 (US) for the 32GB model and $699 (US) for the 64GB model. The iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular models will be available for a suggested retail price of $629 (US) for the 16GB model, $729 (US) for the 32GB model and $829 (US) for the 64GB model.
The third-generation tablet, which was first unveiled in March this year in US, UK and several other countries, is available in China through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com), select Apple Authorized Resellers and by reservation from Apple retail stores.
(With Inputs from Reuters)
