Apple recently acquired the iPad trademark from Fujitsu Ltd. Previously, Fujitsu owned the iPad trademark for their Windows CE based wireless handheld computing device used by the retailers. According to the records at the U.S. Patent and Trademark office, it shows that the iPad trademark was recently assigned to Apple on March 17, 2010.
The Apple iPad is a tablet computer developed by Apple Inc which was announced in January 27, 2010. The functionality of iPad is similar to that of a larger and more powerful iPhone or iPod touch. It runs a modified version of iPhone OS with a redesigned user interface for the larger screen.
Apple announced their iPad device even before they owned the iPad trademark. The same happened during the launch of iPhone in 2007. Earlier Cisco owned the iPhone trademark and later the company announced that they had reached an agreement under which both companies could use the name.
It is rumored that Apple sold between around 40,000 iPads on day one of pre-order availability. This device will go on sale from April 3.