Holiday shoppers rejoice: Target will begin carrying six models of Apple’s iPad, starting at $499. The nation’s second-largest discount chain will start selling 16-, 32-, and 64-gigabyte models, as well as the Wi-Fi + 3G model of the touchscreen tablet computer starting Oct. 3.

The iPad will be covered under the retailer's 5 percent discount for store credit cardholders, which launches Oct. 17. Target marks the largest retail chain to carry the iPad. Apple’s tablets are also available from Apple standalone stores and Best Buy Co. Target shares rose 2.2 percent Friday morning to $54.97.

At a recent conference, Troy Risch, executive vice president of Target stores, told attendees that Target is on track to have 450 general merchandise stores with its expanded grocery format by end of the month. Risch reiterated that Target plans to remodel 400 more stores in 2011. Currently, Target operates 1,743 stores nationwide, including 240 Super Targets.

Also hoping to cash in on shoppers gearing up for the holiday rush, T-Mobile’s pre-ordering page went live and the G2 is now available for pre-order. Current customers can reserve the latest Android offering from Magenta, an offer that extends until October 4th. T-Mobile is rewarding its loyal customers, many of whom snagged the original G1 in a similar exclusive pre-order, by offering the G2 first to its current subscribers.

The G2 is the first handset to be compatible with T-Mobile’s 4G HSPA+ network. Features include a 3.7-inch touchscreen, 5-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, 720p HD video recording, Bluetooth, 4GB of internal memory, a microSD card slot for additional storage (supports up to 32GB), 3.5mm jack, and the device runs on an 800MHz processor with Android 2.2 as its OS. It also comes preloaded with Swype and Adobe Flash player.