IN VIDEO: Apple unveils 'iPad' tablet

Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs took the wraps off the highly anticipated "iPad" tablet and pitched it at a surprisingly low price, aiming to bridge the gap between smartphones and laptops. [click here to see pictures]

Jobs, who returned to the helm last year after a much-scrutinsed liver transplant, took the stage at a packed theater on Wednesday and showed off a sleek, half-inch thick tablet computer with a 9.7-inch touchscreen.

The iPad can run movies, games and a gamut of applications. And taking on e-readers like Amazon's Kindle, Apple announced a digital bookstore called iBooks that will let users buy from publishers including Pearson Plc's Penguin, News Corp's HarperCollins, and Hachette Book Group.

"What once occupied half your living room can now be dropped in a bag," said Outsell Inc analyst Ned May. "It's pulling together a variety of needs (in) a universal entertainment device."

The iPad will sell from late March for as low as $499 for 16 gigabytes of storage. An extra $130 is needed to equip it with third-generation wireless capability.

Watch the launch in this Associated Press YouTube video:


"Pricing is very aggressive, so it's pretty positive from a mass adoption perspective. It was about $200 lower than what I was expecting," said Brian Marshall, an analyst with Broadpoint Amtech. Other analysts had speculated that the tablet may cost as much as $1,000.

Shares of Apple rose to as high as $210.58 after the pricing news, up 5.5 percent from their session low. The stock closed up 0.94 percent at $207.88 on Nasdaq, within reach of its all-time high of $215.59 logged on Jan 5.

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