Apple launches the iPad Air

Apple iPad Air launches to fan frenzy across the globe

People queued outside Apple stores around the world for hours to get their hands on the latest must have tablet from the California based firm.

Apple fans queued outside the flagship store in Covent Garden, London for 24 hours to get their hands on the device which costs upwards of £399.

Customers in Australia and Japan were the first to purchase the 9.7 inch tablet.

TOKYO: For one Japanese man, being at the front of a Tokyo queue as the new iPad debuted Friday was his way of saying "thank you" to Apple after a year that turned his life around.

Takaaki Sasaki, who designed an app that became a hit in Japan, was one of hundreds who poured into Apple's flagship store in the glitzy Ginza district as the doors opened on the latest tablet offering from the sector's agenda-setter.

The launch had little of the razzmatazz of previous iPads or iPhones, with potential customers perhaps swayed by a critical reception that was largely positive but dominated by the theme that the iPad Air was no game-changer.

The worldwide rollout kicked off Down Under, with Apple in Australia saying there were queues outside its stores when the doors opened, with several hundred people reportedly lining up outside its flagship Sydney outlet.