Apple launches iPad for $499

Apple launched its tablet called the iPad, a revolutionary electronic reader that will compete with Amazon.com Inc's Kindle and priced it an astonishing low price of $499.

The iPad will be Apple's first product in the past three years after unveiling the popular iPhone, which became an instant hit and has become the main revenue earner for the company.

Launching the iPad at a packed theatre yesterday, Apple's CEO Steve Jobs said, ''iPad is our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price. iPad creates and defines an entirely new category of devices that will connect users with their apps and content in a much more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before.''

What took analyst by surprise was the price tag of $499, which many had expected Jobs to price at over $1,000. The iPad is priced at the same range of an iPhone although its functions are similar to that of a smartphone and laptop combined.

Although the iPad is not a reader it will compete with Amazon's kindle as the device has the function to read books.

The 9.7-inch touchscreen tablet, which looks like a large iPhone, is just 0.5 inches thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds- thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook. iPad includes 12 new innovative apps designed especially for the iPad, and will run almost all of the over 140,000 apps in the App Store.