For those just coming out from their caves, Apple (AAPL) sent out a friendly reminder that its latest iPad is set to hit stores this Friday at 8 a.m. local time across the United States (including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands), Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. For those looking to avoid such crowds, the company said the device will also be available through its website.
To entice those who do venture into their local Apple retail location – or perhaps soothe the feelings of those that show up and the device is already sold out – Apple said it will offer a free personal setup service with the device. The service will include setting up e-mail, loading new applications and generally making sure the device is up and running when customer leaves the store.
In addition to the Apple retail locations, the device will also be available in the United States as Best Buy, Radio Shack, Sam’s Club, Target and Walmart locations. A handful of North American operators will also begin selling the device this week, including Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility in the United States and Bell Canada, Rogers Wireless and Telus Mobility in Canada. The devices much bally-hoed LTE capabilities will also initially be limited to the networks of those operators.
Apple also said it will expand availability of the device to 25 additional countries on March 23, including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
Reports are already indicating that Apple has sold out of its initial supply of devices, leaving to wonder what exactly will be available for customers showing up on launch day that did not reserve a device. (Answer: tears, and you can bet there will be local news crews on hand to catch it.)
Industry analyst firm iGR recently reported that Apple managed to sell 19.63 million iPad devices in the United States in 2011, accounting for 70% of the tablet market. The company said it expects Apple to continue dominating the market, though competing platforms from Google’s Android OS and Microsoft’s Windows platform are expected to continue gaining market share.
IHS noted in a report that it expects Apple to basically maintain its current worldwide market share in the media tablet space, dipping slightly from 62% in 2011 to 61% in 2012.
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