The new Apple iPad hit shelves this week, making it the third tablet to be unveiled by the company since the original came out in 2010.

The new Apple iPad hits shelves today and is the third generation of the tablet. COURTESY APPLE

The new tablet boasts a retina display for crisp and clear text and images, a better camera and an improved, faster Internet connection, starting at $499, according to the  Apple website.

Despite competition from other tablets, Apple has sold over 55 million iPads since 2010, 40 million of them being sold over 2011, the CBC reported.

“They seem to have the best production facility in terms of their ability to produce the products that they design and to get them to market the fastest,” Steve Bang, a Humber business professor told thedailyplanet.com.

“I think that’s where Blackberry had the biggest problem, they come up with ideas [but] they just can’t get them to market the way that Apple seems to be able to.”

Bang also said that Apple is on top of their game when it comes to innovation.

“They just seem to be thinking basically light-years ahead of everybody else in terms of what the next technological advancement’s going to be,” he said, adding that the company makes enough money to employ the best people to look to the future of technology and innovation.

“I’m not sure that other companies put that much money into research and development and this futuristic thinking.”

The CBC reported that Apple is the most valuable company in the world, having a market capitalization of almost $555 billion, hitting $500 billion in February for the first time.

Bang said he thinks it’s going to be tough for other companies to compete with Apple right now, saying Blackberry is already struggling and other Android phones have not taken off the way they were predicted to.

“Apple is leading the way and I think over the next little while some of these companies are going to fold,” he said.

“You’re going to see some of them actually get swallowed up by other companies to try and get bigger so that they have more margins and scale to use in terms of being able to hire more people and more developers.”

In November Apple shares were at $363.57 U.S. and rose to $600.01 U.S. Thursday morning before closing at $585.56 U.S., down just over four dollars from Wednesday, The Toronto Star reported. 

According to the NASDAQ, Apple stock opened Friday at $584.55 U.S. and is currently fluctuating at around $586 U.S.

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