iPad 2 Coming to 12 More Countries This Week

Apple’s iPad 2 arrived in Japan Thursday, and the company has announced that the tablet will be in 11 more countries by Friday.

iPad 2 will be available at Apple retail stores and select Apple authorized resellers at 9 a.m. local time, as well as the Apple online store starting at 1 a.m. Apple’s suggested price for the Wi-Fi only iPad 2 is $499 for the 16 GB model, $599 for the 32 GB model and $699 for the 64 GB model. The recommended price for the 3G plus Wi-Fi version is $629 for the 16 GB model, $729 for the 32 GB model and $829 for the 64 GB model.

The countries receiving the device on Friday are: Hong Kong, India, Israel, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey and the U.A.E.

Furthermore, the iPad 2 with Wi-Fi will be available in China starting Friday, May 6, and Apple will announce further international availability at a later date. Two weeks after the March 11 U.S. release of the iPad 2, Apple released the device in 25 additional countries.

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Google Brags About Android Market Stats

Google said during the company's earnings call on Thursday that more than 3 billion apps have been installed from the Android Market so far, and around 350,000 smartphones are activated every day. The new figures highlight the exceptional growth of Android, but when it comes to app stores, Apple's is still king.

It didn't take Google long to reach the 3 billion downloaded apps milestone for the Android Market. It took 20 months to reach 1 billion apps installed; the second billion took another five months; and then it took only two months for Google to reach 3 billion -- a 50 percent increase from the previous quarter.

However, it's unclear how Google counted the app installs, if it included third-party stores (like Amazon's), or just the Android Market.Electronista's hunch is that all stores were included in Google's count. The balance between paid and free apps is also unspecified.

Impressive Android Market stats aside, Apple's App Store is still at the top. Apple announced earlier this year that its marketplace reached 10 billion downloads, more than three times more than Android's performance. When it comes to the number of apps, Apple rules too: the App Store has more than 350,000 apps, while the Android Market clocks in at an estimated half of that number.

Source : Google Brags About Android Market Stats

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