Thursday, March 15, 2012, 04:47 pm

Walmart to sell new iPad at midnight on Friday

By AppleInsider Staff

Big-box retailer Walmart is scheduled to start sales of the new iPad at 12:01 a.m. on March 16, beating Apple's own retail outlets to the punch.

Walmart has announced that it will be selling certain versions of Apple's new iPad shortly after midnight at 24-hour locations, which is a full eight hours ahead of Apple Stores' scheduled 8:00 a.m. launch time.

With online pre-orders depleted, customers looking to get the hotly anticipated new tablet on launch day have few options and can only hope to score a unit by waiting in line before resellers begin sales on Friday.

The retail giant will sell the 16GB Wi-Fi version of the device in either black or white for $499, though it is unclear if 4G LTE models will become available later in the day.

Along with Apple's own retail outlets and Walmart, Best Buy, RadioShack, Sams Club and Target are slated to take part in launch day sales. LTE-enabled models will also be available for purchase at Verizon and AT&T stores.