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      FREEHOLD, N.J. (AP) - Apple Inc. began selling its
much-anticipated iPad on Saturday, drawing eager customers intent
on being among the first owners of a tablet-style device that the
company is hoping to convince more people they actually need.

      Some of these initial iPad buyers were drawn by the ability to
read electronic books, watch video and run a myriad of useful or
fun applications, including Scrabble.

      Ray Majewski came to an Apple Store in Freehold with his
10-year-old daughter, Julia, partly as a reward for getting
straight A's in school. He decided on an iPad over Amazon.com
Inc.'s Kindle electronic-book reader.


      "I like the electronic books, and my daughter is really getting
into them as well," Majewski said. "I was thinking of getting a
Kindle but then said to myself, `Why not get an iPad because I can
get so much more from that than just reading books."'

      The iPad is essentially a much larger version of Apple's popular
iPhone, without the calling capabilities. The new device is a
half-inch thick, weighs 1.5 pounds and has a touch screen that
measures 9.7 inches on the diagonal - nearly three times the
iPhone's. Also like the iPhone, it has no physical keyboard, but
sports an accelerometer, which lets gamers tilt the device to
control what's happening on the screen.

      For now, Apple is selling versions of the iPad that can only
connect to the Internet using Wi-Fi. Those models start at $499.
Versions that also have a cellular data connection will be
available by the end of the month. They will cost $130 more, with
the most expensive at $829.


      Although Apple is adept at generating frenetic buzz for
not-yet-released products, it may have to work extra hard once the
initial iPad excitement settles. Many companies have tried to sell
tablet computers before, but none have caught on with mainstream
consumers.

      Apple will need to convince people who may already have smart
phones, laptops, set-top boxes and home broadband connections to
buy yet another Internet-capable device with many of the same
functions.

      And while early adopters who pre-ordered an iPad in recent weeks
gush about all the ways they hope to use the iPad - casual Web
searches on the couch, sharing photo albums with friends, reading
books - skeptics point to all the ways the iPad comes up short.

      They argue the on-screen keyboard is hard to use and complain
that it lacks a camera and ports for media storage cards and USB
devices such as printers. They also bemoan the fact that the iPad
can't play Flash video, which means many Web sites with embedded
video clips will look broken to Web surfers using Apple's Safari
browser. And the iPad can't run more than one program at a time,
which even fans hope will change one day soon.

      College student Brett Meulmefter stood in line at an Apple Store
in Arlington, Va., to try one out without buying one yet.


      "The cost is kind of prohibitive at this point," he said.

      But others flew in to New York from Europe because the iPad
won't go on sale there for a few more weeks.

      Carlos Herrera, a school teacher from Barcelona, Spain, said he
wants to show his colleagues how the device can be used in
classrooms. He has turned his iPad trip into a weeklong vacation.

      Siggi Manz, a software developer who lives near Frankfurt,
Germany, was spending just 20 hours in New York to snag one so he
could start writing iPad applications for his fitness center
clients. Manz, who already carries Apple's MacBook Pro and iPhone,
said the iPad would be ideal for note-taking.

      "Opening a laptop is sometimes impersonal because the monitor
is between us, and the iPhone is too little to really honestly
type," Manz said.


      AP Business Writer Marcy Gordon in Arlington, Va., and
photographer Diane Bondareff in New York contributed to this story.

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Apple Inc. began selling its
much-anticipated iPad on Saturday, drawing eager customers intent
on being among the first owners of a tablet-style device that the
company is hoping to convince more people they actually need.

Apple's much-anticipated iPad goes on sale

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