Apple Inc. started selling its new iPad today, betting on a sharper screen and faster chip to extend its lead over Google Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. in the growing market for tablet computers.

At Apple’s glass-walled store in Sydney’s George Street, employees in blue T-shirts cheered and counted down the seconds until doors opened at 8 a.m., as a line of at least 200 people snaked around the city block. Two hours later, the iPad went on sale at Softbank Corp. (9984)’s Ginza store in Tokyo.

The 9.7-inch device, unveiled by Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook on March 7, is the biggest upgrade yet to Apple’s tablet before Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) introduces new software for competing devices.

Generating demand with the model is important for Apple to fend off competition from devices using Google’s Android operating system and the $199 Kindle Fire from Amazon that’s popular among cost-conscious buyers.

The new iPad, with a price tag of $499 to $829 in the U.S., includes a chip that enables better graphics, as Apple stated.

Apple said. It also boasts a screen with more pixels than traditional high- definition TVs and runs on long-term evolution, or LTE, beside the wireless networks that deliver data faster.

Apple will sell a $499 base model that has 16 gigabytes of memory and works only on Wi-Fi networks. An $829 model has 64 gigabytes of memory and works on both Wi-Fi and LTE networks, as Bloomberg stated.

After debuting iPad today in Australia, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore, the device is scheduled to go on sale in France, Germany, the U.K., Canada and the U.S.

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