Narang and Kubota are new iPad buyers and waited for Apple to work out bugs from the original iPad. Narang said he expected a second iPad to come fairly soon after the first and decided to wait for it rather than invest in both versions.

In Boston, many of the approximately 100 Apple fans who waited outside the Apple store ahead of the launch already owned the original iPad. A few were able to sell the first iPad for half or more of what they paid.

Paul Pezone paid US$829 for his original iPad and was able to sell it for $650.

"I was an iPad 1 owner and I absolutely loved it, but I'm also a huge gamer. The thought that the graphics are nine times faster [in iPad 2] has huge potential for future gaming apps," Pezone said.

The iPad 2 is a substantial upgrade over its predecessor. The tablet has faster hardware, including a dual-core A5 chip running at 1GHz and a graphics core that can render full high-definition 1080p video. It provides 10 hours of battery life, the same as its predecessor.