Apple Inc. said the iPad will hit stores next month, a few days later than expected but not enough to rattle investors eager to see how consumers respond to the new device. The Cupertino, Calif., company said it will first begin selling a version of the iPad that uses Wi-Fi to access the Internet on April 3 in the U.S., while a model that also gets online through wireless carriers' high-speed 3G networks will go on sale later that month. Employees of a New York Apple store that opened in November. The iPad will arrive in shops next month. Apple will begin taking orders for the iPad from U.S. customers on its Web site March 12. Apple has said AT&T Inc., its domestic-carrier partner for the iPhone, will supply the 3G wireless service for the iPad in the U.S. But an AT&T spokesman said the iPad won't be sold in AT&T stores. Customers in Australia, France, Germany, Japan and other countries will be able to buy the iPad in late April. When it introduced the iPad in January, Apple said the product would be available in late March. Recently, an analyst report suggested Apple had encountered some production glitches that might delay the release of the iPad and limit quantities of the device that are initially available. Apple's announcement that the iPad will come out in early April seemed to reassure investors, sending the company's shares up $8.24, or 3.9%, to $218.95 on the Nasdaq Stock Market on Friday. "Production issues, in my mind, are not days or a week in time," said Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray. "Production issues are when things slip by weeks. So I almost see this date as confirmation that there weren't production delays, and it doesn't impact any of our numbers." An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.For further: online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703915204575103350084707176.html?mod=rss_Today's_Most_Popular
