The new iPad went on sale in India on Friday, minus the hundreds of fans that had queued up outside stores at the launch of Apple's latest tablet in the United States and parts of Asia in March.
“We sold around 12 to 15 of the new iPads today,” said Afzal Ahmed, team leader at an Apple Premium Reseller in New Delhi. “Also nearly 40 were booked in advance.”
“There's definitely not the kind of craze we saw with the earlier iPads,” he said.
The new tablet went on sale in India more than a month after the popular tablet computer was available in 10 countries including the US.
The third iteration of the best-selling device is priced between Rs 30,500 and Rs 50,900 in the Indian market depending on the variant.
The iPad with 16 GB of memory that works only on wi-fi networks is priced at Rs 30,500, while the one that can operate on both wi-fi as well as fourth-generation (4G) mobile networks costs Rs 38,900.
The new iPad is, however, not compatible with the 4G LTE network currently available in India and customers will have to make do with the 3G networks.
Bharti Airtel launched India's first 4G network in Kolkata this month and is expanding the high-speed network to Bangalore, Pune and Chandigarh in the coming months.
But the Indian networks are powered by a different radio spectrum band than the ones used by the 4G iPad, which is supported only on the networks of a handful of US and Canadian carriers.
While the iPad is the clear market leader globally, and the new version with its faster chips, fourth-generation wireless and a sharper display is only expected to cement Apple's lead.
Customers have the option to buy the new iPad in black or white with 16, 32, or 64 GB of memory, and can choose a model that works only on wi-fi or on both wi-fi and 4G.
The company will continue to sell the iPad 2 in India but has slashed its prices, with the 16 GB wi-fi model now available for 24,500 while the 3G version will cost 32,900 rupees.
Pricing of the new iPad:
Wi-fi models
16GB – Rs 30,500
32GB – Rs 36,500
64GB – Rs 42,500
Wi-fi 4G models
16GB – Rs 38,900
32GB - Rs 44,900
64GB - Rs 50,900
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