iPad 2 hits Japan, other countries, this week

Apple announced Wednesday that the iPad 2 will go on sale in Japan, Singapore, South Korea and other countries this week.

The California gadget-maker also said in a statement that a Wi-Fi only version of the iPad 2 will be available in China on May 6.

Apple said the iPad 2 will be available in Japan on Thursday and in Hong Kong, India, Israel, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates on Friday.

The iPad 2 hit stores in the United States on March 11.

It had been scheduled to go on sale in Japan in March but its release there was delayed because of the devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Apple sold more than 15 million iPads last year and 4.69 million during the last quarter.

The success of the iPad has forced rival electronics manufacturers to begin rolling out their own touchscreen tablet computers and Japan's Sony this week unvieled a Sony Tablet running Google's Android operating system.

Canada's Research in Motion began selling its Blackberry PlayBook last week.