The iPad will go onsale in Australia on Friday 28 May, with pricing on all six models to be around 12 percent more than what the device sells for in America. The Wi-Fi models will cost $629, $759 and $879 for the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB respectively, with the 3G models costing $799, $928 and $1049 for the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models. (In the US, pricing is $US499, $US599, $US699 for the 16/32/64GB Wi-Fi versions, and $6US29, $US729 and $US829 for the 16/32/64GB 3G models.) Online preorders will be taken from the Apple site from Monday 10 May.
Doubts about Apple’s online bookstore being available at launch have been quelled too, with the announcment that the iBookstore will be live for Australian consumers at the end of the month. In the US, over 1.5 million ebooks have been downloaded from the iBookstore since the iPad’s 3 April debut. This mates with sales of more than one million iPads and downloads of more than 12 million apps from the App Store.
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK will also receive the iPad on 28 May, with Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore to get the device in July.
