Takaaki Sasaki cries tears of joy in Tokyo holding new iPad Air

ONE Japanese man at the front of a Tokyo queue as the new iPad debuted across the world cried tears of joy as he held the device.

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ONE Japanese man at the front of a Tokyo queue as the new iPad debuted across the world cried tears of joy as he held the device.

Takaaki Sasaki was one of hundreds who poured into Apple's flagship store in the glitzy Ginza district as the doors opened on Friday on the latest tablet offering from the sector's agenda-setter.

Unemployed Mr Sasaki, who travelled from northern Iwate, said after years of drifting Apple had brought him a run of luck when he wrote a hit app.

The searchable version of Japan's constitution was voted as the best in App Store's business category and its sudden rise to prominence became fodder for a book he authored in August.

"I wanted to show my gratitude to Apple by being first in line," he said.

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 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.

At the sprawling, three-storey Apple shop in downtown Beijing, the largest Apple store in Asia, each customer was greeted with cheers and applause from about 25 employees, with another dozen workers standing ready to give a second round of applause at the cash registers downstairs.

In Singapore, Edmond Ong, a spokesman for retailer Epicentre, said sales were muted compared with last year's iPad launch.

"We are not too worried as we still see a steady stream of customers coming in to get the iPad this morning," he said.

The new iPad Air is thinner than the version it replaces at about 450g and is "screaming fast," Apple vice president Phil Schiller said at the unveiling in San Francisco on October 23.

Apple also unveiled an upgraded iPad Mini, which has a vividly rich retina display along with faster computing power and graphics.

Both new iPads feature the Apple-designed A7 chip with 64-bit "desktop-class architecture", the company said. The Mini will go on sale later in the month.

Reviewers have generally been positive about the upgrades, with website TechCrunch labelling them "a huge improvement", while Time said the Air was "so much svelter".

Damon Darlin in the New York Times summed up the feelings of many with a review that lauded the Air's lower weight, thinner profile and souped up operating system.

But, he said: "I can't really tell you to replace your old iPad; the improvements on the new one are incremental, not revolutionary."