After paying a $60 million settlement with Shenzhen-based Proview Technologies in China, Apple today announced that the new iPad will arrive in that country on Friday, July 20.
Apple
chose to settle with Proview after that company claimed rights to the iPad name
in China.
Apple
argued that it purchased rights to the iPad name from Proview in 2009, but a
Chinese court ruled that Proview still owned the name. By February, Proview had
pressured Chinese authorities to begin pulling iPads from store shelves in some
parts of the country.
China
is Apple’s second largest market after the United States. Gartner estimates
that Apple’s iOS platform grabbed 17 percent of total market share in China,
which it attributed largely to China Telecom’s launch of the iPhone.
Despite
legal hiccups and the fact that the iPad was only available in Hong Kong, Apple
still managed to sell more than 3 million iPads during the first weekend it was
available in China.
Pricing
for the iPad in China will remain the same as in the United States, starting at
$499 for the 16GB Wi-Fi only model.
Filed Under: Devices
