 Apple launches iPad in India New Delhi (AFP) Jan 28, 2011 - Apple's hugely popular iPad tablet computer went on sale in Indian stores on Friday, nearly 10 months after it launched in the United States. Indian consumers have had to order the iPad from overseas but now it is on sale at Apple-partnered stores across the country. "iPad is here," declared the Apple India website. Apple fans welcomed the news amid some complaints that the product arrived just months before the company is rumoured to be announcing the second generation iPad. Amit Agarwal, who runs the popular Digital Inspiration tech blog, told AFP: "Apple has a tendency to ignore Indian markets and a lot of people feel that it is trying to dispose of its inventory in India ahead of launching iPad2." But he said the delay was unlikely to hurt sales, citing the iPad's huge following. The price in India of the basic model -- 16 GB of memory + Wi-Fi -- is 27,900 rupees ($609) and ranges up to 44,990 rupees. The same basic model, which went on sale in the United States last April, sells for $499 in the US, ranging up to $829 for more sophisticated versions. "It's only about 15-20 percent more than the US price, which is not very high, so I think it will do well," Agarwal said. The higher price reflects custom duties. The iPad will face stiff competition from Samsung's 3G-enabled Galaxy tablet which launched in India in November 2010, initially selling for 36,499 rupees, but now on offer for 29,500 rupees. "No doubt there will be people who will say, 'Why buy the iPad when iPad2 is around the corner?'" Agarwal said. "But iPad2's official launch in India won't happen for ages." |
News Corp. on Thursday invited reporters to a February 2 launch event at the Guggenheim Museum that will feature Murdoch along with Apple vice president of Internet services Eddy Cue.
The debut of The Daily had originally been slated for mid-January, but was delayed reportedly to allow Apple more time to tweak its new subscription service for publications sold through its iTunes online store.
News Corp. has not revealed how much it will charge for The Daily, but iTunes is expected to automatically bill subscribers on a weekly or monthly basis with a new edition showing up on their iPad every morning.
Murdoch, News Corp.'s chairman and chief executive, and Apple head Steve Jobs were to personally take part in the cancelled January event at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
The Daily unveiling was shifted closer to News Corp. offices in New York after Jobs went on medical leave from Apple this month.
Murdoch has touted the iPad as the potential savior of the struggling newspaper industry.
News Corp. has been tight-lipped about the project but Murdoch acknowledged its existence for the first time in an interview in November, listing it as one of the "exciting projects" his media and entertainment company was working on.
Forbes magazine has put the total staff on the project at around 150 and said News Corp. has budgeted 30 million dollars for the first year of the launch.
The Daily would bring together three of Murdoch's passions -- newspapers, the iPad, and finding a way to charge readers for content online in an era of shrinking newspaper circulation and eroding print advertising revenue.
News Corp.'s The Wall Street Journal requires a subscription for full access to WSJ.com and Britain's The Times and The Sunday Times, two other News Corp. newspapers, recently erected pay walls around their websites.
In an interview in April with The Kalb Report, Murdoch called the iPad a "glimpse of the future."
"There's going to be tens of millions of these things sold all over the world," he said. "It may be the saving of newspapers because you don't have the costs of paper, ink, printing, trucks.
"It doesn't destroy the traditional newspaper, it just comes in a different form," he said.
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