New iPads to arrive Friday! Christmas has come early!

New iPads set to arrive on Friday at 8am

The only thing more thrilling than being the first kid on your block with the latest toy or gizmo is the excitement of getting it home and going through the unboxing ritual as you tweet merrily about all the new features that you get to see before everyone else.  So what are you waiting for?  

If it's the iPad, then you're in for a treat. 

New iPads go on sale early Friday morning, Apple said Wednesday.  At 8 am, for Apple retail stores, to be precise, and you better line up early because you’re not the only kid in town who wants one. 

As of last Friday, Apple sold through its entire online stock of the new must-have devices.   So the only way to get one is to either line up yourself or pay your kid brother to get in line for you. Watch out, because if he gets his hands on one, you might not ever get it back!

Availability will be limited to the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, and the UK, along with Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.  On the 23rd of March, the new iPad will be available in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. 

Those who choose to wait do so at their peril. If you don’t get one on launch day, you’ll have to wait at least two weeks for a delivery, and by then, the new car smell may have worn out already.   Though there had been some speculation that the new iPad would differ from the old iPad in terms of look and feel, what's really changed has been specs and features - the new boss looks just the same as the old boss.  What makes the new version a must-have includes improvements like high-resolution Retina Display, 4G networking, an improved graphics chip and voice dictation.

Other features includes a built-in Safari browser for surfing the Web, a built-in email client for staying in touch, the iBooks book purchasing and reading client, the new edition of iPhoto, which allows you to edit photos using the touch screen technology.  You also get Facetime, which allows you to make video calls right off the iPad, Maps, Newsstand, and Messaging software, as well as a built-in camera.

Fans of photo editing may find that the new iPhoto offers some great new features for editing photos on your touch screen device.  Unlike Photoshop or other more sophisticated tools, iPhoto is intended not for the professional but for the hobbyist who wants to shoot photos and get the best out of them for publishing onliine or sharing with friends via email, and it achieves this by allowing users to "touch up" their photos using their fingertips.  Look ma!  No mouse.

While the Apple Store is the place to be seen purchasing your new model, consumers can also pick them up at a variety of stores, including Best Buy, Radio Shack, Sam’s Club, Target and Walmart.  But consumers who can brave the crowds at the Apple Store will be offered special features with a Personal Setup Service that will allow them to customize their phone with apps and navigate the app store. Model prices frun from $499 for the 16GB edition with Wi-Fi, on up to $829 for 64GB of storage and 4G LTE connectivity.

Have an old iPad that you'd like to trade in for the new one?  Well, Apple's Reuse and Recycling Program has just been unveiled and the company is offering some pretty competitive trade-in values for your old device.  Trade-in values range from $205 for an iPad 2 16GB to $320 iPad Wifi with 3G 64GB.  With such values offered for your old machine, it's going to be pretty hard resisting getting the new one, wouldn't you say?  

So get in line! Or at least do so in the next 24 hours.

{image source: Under the Microscope}