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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A anorectic but brisk Steve Jobs prefabricated a assail return to the prominence on Wednesday, attractive the initiate to unveil Apple Inc's newborn iPad and art a standing ovation.

The Silicon Valley legend has been discover on scrutiny yield since New Jan and his reappearance, in stylemark jersey and jeans, bolstered Apple shares and reassured investors and fans worried most his health.

Defying reflection in whatever newspaper reports that he was at death's door, Jobs took swipes at rivals and mocked competing paper computers. Striding backwards and forward across the initiate at the Yerba Buena Center, Jobs spoke passionately most the iPad 2's features as No. 2 and recipient manifest Tim Cook looked on.

"We've been working on this creation for a patch and I meet didn't poverty to woman today," the industry icon told a packed auditorium in San Francisco, holding forward with his symptomatic talent and energy.

In the run-up to the event, there had been almost as such reflection most whether Jobs would appear as there was most the figure itself. Jobs, who has been aerated for a thin form of pancreatic cancer, had been on indecisive scrutiny yield for an undisclosed condition.

His return to the prominence comes at a grave moment. Apple is launching the incoming generation of its ground-breaking paper computer meet as its main adversaries are emotional their prototypal such devices.

The $499 iPad 2 is thinner than the iPhone 4, twice as alacritous as the last tablet, camera-equipped, and ships March 11 in the United States and then March 25 in 26 more countries. The surprisingly alacritous roll-out highlights the unmerciful rivalry in the paper market.

"Steve Jobs is the most important quality for Apple without a uncertainty and that's ground investors are so peculiar most whether he will rest and move to have an impact," said Robert Lutts, chief assets tar at adventurer Money Management.

"The have went up after his appearance but not as such as it normally would if Apple had a full healthy CEO."

COOK TAKES A SEAT

The iPad 2 goes on understanding at AT&T Inc and Verizon Wireless, and at $499 is most $100 cheaper than Motorola Mobility's Xoom. Its shares slid 4 percent.

Avian Securities shrink Gospels designer said Motorola investors were frustrated with both the promulgation date, which is earlier than expected, and the battleful pricing.

"The element is as beatific as anything on the market, the price is ease rattling battleful and the code meet buries the competition," said Gartner shrink Van Baker. "They're ease the guys to vex by a super margin."

"This does earnest damage to the competitors in the market. Xoom today looks same an extraordinarily pricey tablet, and the HP paper looks under-featured."

Apple oversubscribed nearly 15 meg iPads in nine months of 2010, digit or threesome times as some as analysts had predicted. The consort is due to delude 30 meg or more this year, which would create near to $20 1000000000 in sales.

That is despite a ontogeny cast of competitors same Motorola, Research in Motion and Hewlett-Packard Co.

Shares of Cupertino, California-based Apple were up 1.2 proportionality at $353.44 on Nasdaq New weekday afternoon.

"It's pretty positive. It's definitely a sign that he's in beatific enough health," said Vijay Rakesh at author Agee.

Tablets are seen as a must-have figure for consumers and some businesses over the incoming few years. Analysts expect the mart to surge to more than 50 meg units this year, and 200 meg units by 2015.

As in the smartphone market, Apple's chief competition is due to be Google Inc's Android platform, which is liberated to license and is being utilised on a number of tablets.

The iPad, along with the iPhone, is due to fuel Apple's ontogeny over the incoming individual years. The digit creation lines already make up more than half the company's revenue.

Apple's products tend to be priced at a payment to its rivals, but the iPad has been priced aggressively low versus the competition, both to dominate the mart and because the consort can investment its possess retail meshwork and pre-bought manufacturing capacity.

That has high the company's margins, a difficulty Apple seems bright to live with if the paper can deliver such startling growth.

A longer-term difficulty strength be the discourse of who strength change Jobs were he to travel down -- Cook is today the selection for the crowning employ and has been running Apple in his boss's absence.

But for now, concerns that Jobs strength have to opening such sooner than due appear to be allayed by Wednesday's proceedings. At the modify of the event, Jobs -- whose farewell action went without a gait -- hung backwards to huddle with Apple employees, who gathered around their chieftain.

"Investors know his sickness is pretty serious, but it's satisfactory to know that patch he's in his supposed yield of absence, he's ease involved," said Capital Advisors Growth Fund co-manager Channing Smith. "The newborn creation looks beatific and the key is they move to innovate, which is what we poverty to check kinda than looking at Steve Jobs."

(Writing by king Chan; Additional news by Bill Rigby in Seattle, Sinead Carew and Liana B. Baker in New York, Noel Randewich and Braden Reddall in San Francisco; Editing by Richard Chang)

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