14 DAY TRIAL // Apple has issued a formal announcement confirming the International launch of the iPad 2 for Friday, March 25.
Already confirmed by an Apple spokesperson earlier this week, the iPad 2 International launch is now official, by means of a formal announcement posted by Apple on its web site.
The Cupertino-based tech giant announced that “iPad 2, the second-generation of its third post-PC device, will go on sale in 25 additional countries this Friday, March 25,” according to the press release.
The tablet device is scheduled to arrive at Apple retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers at 5 p.m. local time.
Online orders through the store.apple.com will begin at 1 a.m.
“While competitors are still struggling to catch up with our first iPad, we’ve changed the game again with iPad 2,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.
“We’re experiencing amazing demand for iPad 2 in the US, and customers around the world have told us they can't wait to get their hands on it. We appreciate everyone’s patience and we are working hard to build enough iPads for everyone.”
In addition to the 25 countries confirmed as on track to receive iPad 2 shipments, Apple also announced that all models of iPad 2 will be available in Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and additional countries next month.
According to Apple, the countries to receive iPad 2 on Friday are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.
iPad 2 starts at $499 for the WIFI model with 16GB memory, and goes up to $829 for the high-end model featuring 3G networking capabilities and as much as 64 GB of on board storage.
Apple promises to announce availability of its iPad 2 in even more countries in the coming months.