The UK finally gets the iPad

Asavin Wattanajantra

The iPad has officially been made available in retail stores, as May 28 sees the launch of the tablet across the UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, and Switzerland.

The Regent Street store opened its doors for shoppers this morning, immediately seeing queues for punters eagerly awaiting the device, which has already been delayed once. Those who pre-ordered will also be getting the iPad through the mail - in some cases one day earlier.

The iPad has already been a big success in the US, passing the million sold mark quickly and showing that there was a demand for a device which is really marketed between being a smartphone and a laptop.

The iPad is available on the UK for a suggested retail price of £429 for 16GB, £499 for 32GB, £599 for 64GB for Wi-Fi models. Prices are £529 for 16GB, £599 for 32GB and £699 for 64BB Wi-Fi and 3G models.

The iBooks app for iPad including Apple’s iBookstore is available as a free download from the App store. The iPad will be released in Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore in July.