The Apple iPad launches in the US on Saturday with an apparent deluge of early online orders indicating that the tablet computers will be another big hit for the company.
The iPad "connects users with their apps and content in a far more intimate and fun way than ever before," Apple chief executive officer Steve Jobs said.
Apple has not released details of how many iPads will be available for the Saturday launch but some estimates put the figure as high as a several hundred thousand.
"My guess is that the numbers are going to be pretty impressive," Mr Gartenberg said of the iPad sales debut.
"This is significant considering these are people who haven't seen or touched an iPad and are simply going on Apple's word."
The iPad allows users to watch video, listen to music, play games, surf the web or read electronic books.
The iPad also runs most of the 150,000 applications made for the iPod music player and the iPhone. Apple has promised that the device would come with "12 new innovative apps designed especially for iPad".
While Apple is making a powerful debut in the tablet computer market "everyone and their brother" will be fielding competing devices by the end of this year, according to analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group in Silicon Valley.
Newspapers and magazines are eagerly tailoring interactive, digital editions in a hope that the iPad heralds a new way to deliver content and bring in revenue.
The iPad model featuring Wi-Fi wireless connectivity will be available in Apple's US stores from Saturday and the model that offers both Wi-Fi and 3G cellular connectivity in late April, Apple said.
The company said both the Wi-Fi and 3G models will be available in Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain and Switzerland in late April and in additional countries later this year.
Factbox
• The size of a letter-sized sheet of paper, the iPad is 1.3cm thick and weighs 0.7 kilos. It has a colour 24.6cm LED-display screen that allows for viewing video in high-definition.
• 16, 32 and 64 gigabytes of flash memory.
• A 16-gigabyte Wi-Fi version will be available worldwide for $499. The 32GB Wi-Fi model will cost $599 while the 64GB Wi-Fi model will cost $699.
• iPad models equipped with Wi-Fi and 3G will be available in late April in the US and selected countries. The 16GB model will cost $629, the 32GB will cost $729 and the 64GB model will cost $829.
• Battery life of up to 10 hours from a single charge.
• Runs almost all of the over 150,000 applications for the iPod Touch and iPhone available in Apple's App Store.
• An online "iBookstore" to complement the iTunes music store. iPad syncs with iTunes so applications and content downloaded from the App Store, iTunes Store and iBookstore will be automatically synced to a user's iTunes library.
• A virtual touchscreen keyboard and the ability to hook up an external physical keyboard.
• iWork, a productivity suite of applications for creating presentations or working with spreadsheets and charts.
• Powered by A4, a next-generation chip which Apple said provides exceptional processor and graphics performance.
• A Software Development Kit for iPad developers to create applications.