The new iPad comes with the claim of featuring the most advanced display ever on a portable device. Featuring Apple's Retina Display, first seen on its iPhone4, the new iPad is said to be even sharper than the high-definition television set in the living room. Photo: AP
Apart from the sharp screen, the new iPad features a faster processor in A5X, the latest in the series of the custom-designed chips by Apple for the iPad. The A5X dual-core chip is said to sport a quad-core graphics engine that makes it powerful enough to render HD videos on its screen of resolution 2048-by-1536 pixels. That's four times sharper than the iPad2. Photo:AP
One of the new features of the iPad is the 'dictate' option featured in the virtual keyboard. Users can read out a message for an email, instead of typing it. Photo: AP
Interestingly, the new iPad was not a replacement on the shelves like the iPad 2 last year. Instead, Apple has retained iPad2 on its assembly of products, making it the entry-level tablet at US dollars 399 effective from Thursday (March 8). In India, the basic iPad2 will cost Rs.24,500 (inclusive of VAT), according to a press release. (In the photo) Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller talks during the Apple new iPad launch event at San Francisco, March 7, 2012. Photo: AP
One of the many speculations about Apple has been whether it would launch a tablet at a budget price. Technology forums have talked about a possible smaller-sized tablet from the company, especially following their focus on school education through their online iBooks store. The price cut on iPad2 and its continued sales could be possibly the company's move in that direction. Photo: AP.
The debut rollout for the new iPad will be on March 16, covering the US, Canada, parts of Europe and Hong Kong, among other places. The pre-orders have begun online. No date has been mentioned for India as yet. Photo: AP
The new iPad launch was a litmus test for Apple CEO Tim Cook with speculation about just how he would match the showmanship of the iconic Steve Jobs. In this photo, he is seen explaining the 25 billionth download from Apple's App universe. Photo:AP
In one of the more endearing moments, Tim Cook said: 'Over the past year, every one is wondering who is it going to be who is going to make the next best thing after the iPad2'. He introduced the new iPad with the words: 'Stop wondering. We are.' Photo: AP