Apple releases its iPad today, with comparable fanfare if not quite as much overwhelming hysteria as when it unleashed the iPhone in 2007.
The touch-screen tablet device - best described as a giant iPod Touch - lets you surf the Internet, listen to music and play downloaded applications, books, video games, movies and TV shows. The device weighs 1.5 pounds and has a 9.7 inch screen.
The iPad starts at $500. More expensive versions that allow you to get online via 3G service go on sale at an unspecified date later this month. The low-end iPads that go on sale today connect online only through Wi-Fi.
The Apple Store in the Foothills will be the first of six places in town to sell the device when it opens at 9 a.m. At 10 a.m. the four Tucson Best Buys and Apple Specialist Simutek will open up and join in the hoopla.
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Expect quantities to fly quickly off the shelves. No location would verify the amount of iPads it will have in stock.
Where to buy it
• Apple Store, 2905 E. Skyline Drive
Phone: 529-9600
Note: iPads that weren't picked up by those who pre-ordered them will go on sale to the public at 3 p.m.
• Best Buy, 11855 N. Oracle Road
Phone: 877-6399
• Best Buy, 575 E. Wetmore Road
Phone: 696-3442
• Best Buy, 6025 E. Broadway
Phone: 745-0209
• Best Buy, 5311 S. Calle Santa Cruz
Phone: 294-7660
• Simutek, 3136 E. Fort Lowell Road
Phone: 321-9077
Coming sunday
IPad vs. Kindle: Comparing Apple's new product to Amazon's staple.
Contact reporter Phil Villarreal at 573-4130 or pvillarreal@azstarnet.com