Lay your hands on the iPad in India by April

It is labelled the next-generation gadget which will bridge the gap between smart phones and laptops. The iPad, a sleek, 9.7-inch touch-screen tablet launched in San Francisco on Wednesday, is Apple’s biggest bet on a new product since the iPhone.

According to Apple distributors in India, the gadget will be available in the country by March or April and cost the same as in the US — $500 (Rs23,000) plus 16% tax, taking the price to about Rs27,000 for the 16GB version. Higher-capacity models will sell for $599 (Rs28,000) and $699 (Rs32,500), excluding taxes.

“We will start getting shipments in three weeks,” said an official with an Apple distributor in India. But shop owners at Heera Panna are already fielding calls from potential buyers. “We have received about 10 calls inquiring about the product. We expect the iPad’s sales to soar once it is available,” said Shailesh Jain of Saba Collections.

Manish Bhasin, owner of Jain Shaab, said, “People usually like to get their hands on the gadget in the first few days and some are even willing to pay double the price.”

Added Amit Jain of Aliens store, “For the first week, prices will be more than 20% the original price.”

Deepak Kumar, who used to manage tech research firm IDC India’s supply side research activities, said, “Given the device’s multi-faceted capabilities, Apple has priced it realistically. It looks like they have taken the right cues from the iPhone’s limited success in India.”

Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs described the iPad as a do-everything gadget that can surf the Web and play movies and video games. He left little doubt that he was also going after the e-book market that Amazon had pioneered. The iPad has a near-life-size touch keyboard, and comes with all the expected features.

Among the pleasant surprises are the iPad’s pricing, half-inch-wide body, 10 hours of video playback time, and 700gm weight. Current netbooks that offer 7-8 hours of video playback weigh double and are 1.5 inches thick.

It has also disappointed. Apple has crippled the device by restricting it to running only one application at a time. Its display resolution is 1024 x 600 pixels, less than the 1366 x 720 required for high-definition video.

Diptarup Chakraborti, principal research analyst of Gartner India, expects other vendors to match and exceed the specifications at comparable or even lower prices in the coming months but warns against going by specifications when it comes to Apple.

“You must not forget that when you are talking about a product like this, at least in the US market, it is not just a piece of hardware. You have to also think of all the applications, the e-books, the videos, the music and the newspapers that come with it. It is not just a matter of technology,” he said.

According to industry sources, two Taiwanese brands, Asus and MSI, are gearing up to launch similar products with even more features by mid-2010. H-P, too, has shown off a prototype of a similar product at the recently concluded Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.