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Apple: New iPad Hits Stores at 8am Friday

Apple on Wednesday confirmed that its new iPad will hit stores at 8am local time on Friday.

March 14, 2012

Apple on Wednesday confirmed that its new iPad will hit stores at 8am local time on Friday.

The updated tablet will be available on March 16 in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland and the U.K., along with Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Apple said.

Apple promised a personal setup service for those who purchase the new iPad at Apple Stores, which will help buyers set up email, load apps, and more.

In addition to Apple Stores, the new iPad will also be available at Best Buy, Radio Shack, Sam's Club, Target, and Walmart, as well as via wireless carriers AT&T and Verizon. Those retailers will likely have a limited number of new iPads, so it's best to check with your local store before heading over.

Apple, meanwhile, said the new iPad will be coming to additional countries on March 23: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.

Apple last week during a press event in San Francisco. The updated tablet includes a Retina Display, 4G LTE connectivity, an improved camera, and the new A5X processor with a quad-core GPU, among other things.

At this point, wait time for new iPads ordered via Apple.com are at 2-3 weeks. Recently, an analyst suggested that Apple this coming Friday.

Last year, the iPad went on sale later in the day, at 5pm. For more, see in March 2011.

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