iPad China launches on Friday
The five-month wait is over, the Apple iPad lands in China this week -- and this time, Wi-Fi is included
People are already lining up at the Shanghai Apple store in Pudong to get their hand on the first China iPad. Apple has already released iPads around the world, including Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands and Singapore.Apple announced on Monday that it will launch its iPads in China starting Friday, September 17 at 10 a.m. The release comes five months after the iPad launched in the United States.
Learning from previous iPhone mistakes, representatives say that the iPad China model will be available in mainland with Wi-Fi, but not 3G.
iPad with Wi-Fi will start at RMB 3,988 for a 16 GB model and will be available at the new Shanghai Apple store. If you don’t want to cross the river (or don’t want to fight the crowds), the iPad will also be sold at BestBuy and resellers at People's Square. All iPad China resellers are available on Apple China's website.
iPad 32 GB and 64 GB models will be available for RMB 4,788 and RMB 5,588, respectively.
Until now, China Apple fans have only been able to get iPads through the country’s grey market, with real models smuggled into the country and countless other knock-offs sold, all at exorbitant prices. Some grey market China iPads have gone for as much as US$1,000 according to the Wall Street Journal.
According to AppleInsider, Apple said it plans to continue to release the iPad in "many more countries later this year." Availability and pricing for these additional countries will be announced at a later date.
Apple opened the first Shanghai Apple store in July as part of the company’s push to open 25 new stores in mainland China. The second Shanghai Apple store on Huaihai Zhong Lu will open this fall.
China is the world's largest cellphone market by users although Apple is only is the fifth-largest smartphone vendor in the country after Nokia, Samsung, Motorola and Sony.
