Jobs hails 'post-PC' world with iPad 2

The audience, made up mainly of journalists, gave him a standing ovation as he walked onto the stage, with many noting how well he was looking. Jobs is on medical leave for an unspecified health condition.

But it was not Jobs that journalists had gathered to see. Rather, it was the launch of the iPad 2, the successor to Apple's wildly popular tablet computer. Unlike a year ago, when the company launched the original iPad, the market has become significantly more competitive, with Google Android-based tablets such as Motorola's Xoom and BlackBerry's PlayBook taking centre stage at recent trade shows.

Apple has generated US$9,5bn in revenue from sales of the first-generation iPad. It's sold more than 15m of the devices, sending Apple's share price into the stratosphere. Last year, the company shot past Microsoft to become the world's most valuable technology. Today, Apple is worth $100bn more than the Windows software maker, which is yet to respond to Apple's success in the fast-growing market for tablet computers.

The iPad 2 will be available in the US on 11 March and soon thereafter in 23 other countries, including Sweden, the UK, Germany and the Czech Republic. SA will not receive the device at launch, with local distributor Core Group saying it's not sure when it will arrive on SA shores.

Read the full article on TechCentral.co.za.