iPad sales hit 450,000

Apple's Steve Jobs says his company has sold more than 450,000 iPad tablet computers as he unveiled new software designed to make the iPhone more appealing to mobile users and developers.

The software includes support for multitasking and advertising. The software will ship in the middle of the year, he said.

The new program escalates Apple's rivalry with Google for mobile customers and developers at a time when demand for smartphones outpaces that for computers. Since the iPhone's introduction in 2007, customers and developers have criticised its inability to run more than one third-party program at the same time, a feature Google's phones are capable of.

The new iPhone operating system, including its advertising platform, will be available on the iPad this year. The iPad went on sale in the US on April 3 and sold more than 300,000 units in its first day.

The new iPhone OS4 software adds more than 100 features. They include support for multitasking, the ability to organise iPhone apps into folders, enhanced mail functions, new business features, a game centre and the advertising program.

The ad platform, called iAd, will help give developers a new way to profit from their programs, Jobs said. There are about 185,000 apps for the iPhone and 3500 for the iPad, some of which are low-cost or free. IPhone users have downloaded more than four billion apps.

The ads will run within the apps, and the developers will receive an "industry standard 60 per cent" share of the ad revenue.

Apple bought mobile-ad network Quattro Wireless in January to expand in wireless advertising. That deal came after Google agreed to buy market leader AdMob for US$750 million ($1.06 billion).

The iAd is "a direct challenge to Google's dominance in online advertising, moving ads from outside to the inside of applications," said Michael Obuchowski, chief investment officer for First Empire Asset Management. Apple regularly updates the iPhone software. The company first opened up the operating system to outside developers in 2008, giving them a way to create applications for the device. Apple also added business features that year.

- BLOOMBERG