Apple begins iPad sales in India

Apple Inc's popular iPad tablets finally hit Indian stores on Friday, nearly 10 months after its US sales began, giving more options to customers in the world's fastest-growing mobile market that is also seeing a surge in sales of smartphones and other high-end devices.
Apple is selling the iPad through its authorised resellers and partner stores across the country, an India-based company spokesman told Reuters.
Apple has priced the iPad in India between 27,900 rupees and 44,900 rupees ($612-$985), depending on the model.
The iPad model with 16 GB of memory that works only on Wi-Fi is priced at 27,900 rupees, while the one that can operate on both Wi-Fi as well as third-generation (3G) mobile networks costs 34,900 rupees.
Customers have the option to buy an iPad 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 3G.
The 64 GB iPad model that operates on both Wi-Fi and 3G costs 44,900 rupees, according to Apple's website.
Apple first introduced the iPad in January last year and began sales in April. The company shipped a total 14.79 million iPads as of Dec 25 last year and research firm iSuppli expects 36.5 million to be sold in 2011.
The India launch comes at a time when the company is expected to announce in weeks the next version of the iPad, known as iPad 2.