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.

iPad features 12 next-generation Multi-Touch applications. All app works in both portrait and landscape, automatically animating between views as the user rotates iPad in any direction.

The precise Multi-Touch interface makes surfing the web on iPad dramatically more interactive and intimate than on a computer, said the Cupertino, California-based company.

The iPad has a large screen and almost full-size ''soft'' keyboard and photos from a Mac, PC or digital camera can be imported to the iPad.

iPad runs almost all of the over 140,000 apps on the App Store with access to the online music, TV and movie store with a catalog of over 11 million songs, over 50,000 TV episodes and over 8,000 films including over 2,000 in high definition video.

Apple also announced the new iBooks app for iPad, which includes Apple's new iBookstore, the best way to browse, buy and read books on a mobile device. The iBookstore will feature books from major and independent publishers.

Apple also introduced a new version of iWork for iPad, the first desktop-class productivity suite designed specifically for Multi-Touch, where presentations with animations and transitions, and spreadsheets with charts, functions and formulas can be designed with the help of Pages, Keynote and Numbers.

iPad syncs with iTunes just like the iPhone and iPod touch, using the standard Apple 30-pin to USB cable, so all of contacts, photos, music, movies, TV shows, applications from Mac or PC can be transferred and viewed after downloading.

iPad's has a 9.7-inch, LED-backlit display features IPS technology that delivers crisp, clear images and consistent color with an ultra-wide 178 degree viewing angle.

The precise, capacitive Multi-Touch display is accurate and responsive whether scrolling web pages or playing games. The intelligent soft keyboard pioneered on iPhone takes advantage of iPad's larger display to offer an almost full-size soft keyboard. iPad also connects to the new iPad Keyboard Dock with a full-size traditional keyboard.

iPad is powered by A4, Apple's next-generation system-on-a-chip. Designed by Apple, the new A4 chip provides exceptional processor and graphics performance along with long battery life of up to 10 hours.

iPad comes in two versions-one with Wi-Fi and the other with both Wi-Fi and 3G. iPad includes the latest 802.11n Wi-Fi, and the 3G versions support speeds up to 7.2 Mbps on HSDPA networks.