iPads will supplement crayons and flashcards in kindergarten classes. Many supporters are excited with this technological development in the country’s educational system, but detractors think that we may be wasting a lot of money on something pupils may be too young to appreciate.

Next fall, around 300 young children in kindergarten in central Maine will receive iPad2 tablets to help them learn 1-2-3s, ABCs, drawing, and all other things we learn in kindergarten. Amy Heimerl, kindergarten teacher from Auburn, said that she is excited for this entirely new adventure where both students and teachers will share a learning experience. Heimerl said she is thrilled to see where this innovation will take teachers and students alike.

Sue Millard, a mother of two, said that the $200,000 proposed budget on the iPads could be used on other school programs that could produce bigger gain for students. She said she understands that everyone has to keep up with latest advancements in technology but thinks kindergarteners may be too young to appreciate the worth of iPads.

In 2002 and 2003, Maine was the first state to distribute laptops among their seventh and eighth grade students. Since then, the project expanded and now almost half of their students are equipped with laptops to aid them in their studies. Last week, the school board approved the plan of giving students iPad2 units next fall.

Superintendent Tom Morril said that iPad tablets are easy to use and can encourage students to enjoy learning with music and more colorful imagery.

Apple Inc’s iPad 2 has finally reached Many stores in United States on Friday. The latest gadget, which was exclusively sold in Apple and Best Buy stores the previous year, is now also available at Target and Walmart branches nationwide.

Analysts expect the demand for iPad 2 to be much higher compared to the original tablet computer sold last year. Also, the device now covers a much wider retail market with the addition of two store outlets.

Early Friday morning, long lines were already formed outside Apple store branches in New York and San Francisco. However, other iPad 2 retailers did not attract as many of Apple’s crowd. According to a Target store representative, notable lines had not formed outside their stores.

The updated version of Apple’s line of computer tablet will go on sale later this month in Australia and in the rest of the world. On Friday, Apple (AAPL) shares had closed up 1.3 percent at $351.99.

In 2010, there were about 15 million iPads sold worldwide. Tim Cook, Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, said during a conference call held last January that production of the iPad had increased significantly in December when iPad sales soared 75 percent from the last period.

However, several analysts are expecting iPad sales to increase more than twice over in 2011. Apple’s iPad 2 might even sell its first million units faster than the original iPad, said Gene Muster of financial services Piper Jaffray.

The new iPad features a thinner and lighter frame than the first generation. It has a faster dual-core chip, which was designed by Apple Inc. Also, it has a new back and front video cameras.

Even with the latest improvements, Apple had kept iPad 2 price points same with the original. This means the price of a wifi-version iPad with a 16GB memory begins at $US499.

The clash of tablets appears to be on the rage these recently. But, if new figures are any indication, it probably means they are still warming up.

Apple Inc, the undisputed company leader in the industry, has sold more than 14 million iPads as of December. But, market shares dropped in the third quarter of 2010 from 95 percent to 75 percent the succeeding quarter, according to the research firm Strategy Analytics.

During the same period, shipments of Android-powered tablets increased from 2.3 percent to 21.6 percent. However, those figures on market-shares represent shipments from manufacturers to vendors, and not the sales to end-users.

To sum it all, more than 17 million tablets were shipped in the entire world in 2010. More than half of them or 9.7 million were included in the holiday shopping season in the fourth quarter.

Durring the fourth quarter, there were 2.1 millions shipments for Android tablet while only 300,000 devices equipped with other operating systems were shipped.

But, sales for the Samsung Galaxy Tab, which is now the most popular tablet that runs Android operating system, were not as high as the company had hoped for, the Wall Street Journal noted.

Samsung’s Lee Young-hee said in an earnings call on Friday that there were two million Tabs shipped by the manufacturer in South Korea, but only “a small number” were bought by consumers.

Still, Apple’s financial reports showed a decrease on iPad’s success in the last quarter of 2010, CNN noted. There were still 525,000 iPads left unsold than in the preceding quarter.