Apple took to the wires this morning to announce that the new iPad will hit 12 countries later this week. Along with South Korea, this coming Friday the new iPad launches in Brunei, Croatia, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Malaysia, Panama, St. Maarten, Uruguay and Venezuela. Then, the following Friday, it hits Colombia, Estonia, India, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, South Africa and Thailand.
For better or worse, the new iPad will carry the suggested retail price of $499 USD and up. The iPad 2 will also be available at its new $399 price and might be the best bet in the majority of the markets just now getting the new iPad; only the North American markets have LTE data capabilities anyway.
These new markets will help the iPad extend its global dominance in the tablet wars. The iPad is far and away the most popular tablet on Earth but generic Android tablets have no doubt found a home in developing countries thanks to their generally lower price and wider availability. But that won’t stop the Apple machine. Cook & Co. will systematically roll out new products worldwide on Apple’s quest to be a trillion-dollar company.