Apple has announced that its long-awaited iPad will be available for purchase for consumers starting on Saturday, April 3, while pre-orders for the multi-touch device will begin on March 12. The Wi-Fi model will be the only available at first, the 3G-capable iPad is expected to arrive in late April. In addition, all versions of the hardware will be available in the U.K., Canada, France, Germany, Australia, Italy, Japan, Span and Switzerland in late April.

Apple lowered its Mac Developer Program annual subscription, which now carries a flat fee of $99 per year. Previously, developers had to pay between $499 for the “Select” tier and $3,499 for the “Premier” categorization. The newly revamped Mac Developer Program is modeled after Apple’s wildly successful iPhone Developer program, and offers technical resources, support and more. Developers who subscribe also receive pre-release versions of forthcoming software for Mac OS X, including the operating system itself.