Apple eager to field new iPad tablet computer: CFO

Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook on Tuesday touted the firm's role as a "mobile devices company" and said he is eager to get new iPad tablet computers to market.

Apple will sell the iPad online and at retail shops keen on customer assistance such as its own stores and popular US electronics chain Best Buy when the devices begin rolling out worldwide next month, according to Cook.

Cook said he has had an iPad for six months and the "incredible experience" has him and the rest of the California firm eager to begin shipping the tablets.

Apple should "definitely" be deemed a mobile devices company, the executive said during an on-stage chat at an annual Goldman Sachs technology conference in San Francisco.

Cook's statement echoed one made by Apple chief executive Steve Jobs in January when Jobs unveiled the iPad at a media event in downtown San Francisco.

A vast majority of Apple's revenues now come from mobile devices, although the company remains devoted to its Macintosh computer line, the chief operating officer said.

He described Apple TV boxes that route programs from the Internet to high-definition televisions as a "hobby" but added that the company feels in its "gut" that the devices have potential.

The iPad has a 9.7-inch (24.6-centimeter) color screen and resembles an oversized iPhone. It is 0.5 inches (1.3 cms) thick, weighs 1.5 pounds (0.7 kgs) and comes with 16, 32, or 64 gigabytes of flash memory.

The cheapest iPad model, with Wi-Fi connectivity and 16GB of memory, is 499 dollars while the most expensive -- which includes 3G connectivity and 64GB of memory -- costs 829 dollars.

Apple was "aggressive" in its pricing of iPad models to avoid leaving "a pricing umbrella" for competitors, according to Cook.

In what appeared to be a swipe at competitors, Cook said that Apple routinely rejects good ideas internally in order to avoid "the hubris" of expanding for the sake of being bigger.