Apple launched their new “iPad” media tablet device

28 Jan 2010 0 Comments

Steve Jobs opened today’s Apple Event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco by stating, “We want to kick off 2010 by introducing a truly magical and revolutionary new product.”

apple-ipad-iwork Jobs explained that due to iPods, iPhones, and MacBooks, Apple is the largest mobile devices business in the world today, generating more revenue than Sony, Samsung or Nokia.

According to Steve, a new device aimed at the niche between laptops and smartphones would need to be able to perform certain functions (browsing the web, enjoying and sharing photos, videos and music, playing games, and reading e-books) better than either laptops or smartphones, and to me it looks like Apple’s new iPad will succeed where netbooks have failed.

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Introductory Video

Keynote Video

Apple iPad Features

The iPad runs an operating system similar to the iPhone OS with a customizable homescreen and a full multi-touch interface on a 9.7-inch IPS capacitive glass screen. Like with the iPhone, a semi-translucent keyboard appears on-screen when needed, and web pages, photos, movies, books, calendars, emails, and other applications and games can be enjoyed in a landscape or portrait orientation.

Apple iPad - Software - iTunes

The device comes with several applications built-in: Safari, Mail, iCal, Address Book, Google Maps, YouTube, Photos, Music, and more. All these applications have had a major user interface redesign to optimize them for a large multi-touch screen, and their data can be synchronized with your Mac or PC via a USB cable. If you’re using a Mac, the iPad will also pull Places and Faces for photos from iPhoto.

The iPad is 0.5-inches thin, weighs 1.5 pounds, features an accelerometer, compass, speaker, microphone, headphone jack, dock connector, 802.11n WiFi networking, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, 16 / 32 / 64GB of flash storage, and Apple’s brand new A4 1GHz processor.

Some models will also feature 3G connectivity to cellphone networks. Battery life is 10 hours during active use and 1 month during standby.

Users can download podcasts and vidcasts or buy music, TV shows, movies, and applications from the built-in iTunes Store and App Store. All applications that currently work on the iPhone will be able to run in a iPhone-size window or maximized view on the iPad, and Apple’s latest SDK will allow developers to further customize their applications for the larger screen size.

iBook Store

Apple iPad - Software - iBooks Apple also included the brand new iBooks application with the device to tie into their new iBook Store. Through the iBook Store users will be able to find, purchase, and download e-books right from their iPads.

iWork for iPad

Three of the most exciting applications available in the App Store for device are Pages, Numbers, and Keynote (selling for $9.99 each). Apple performed a complete user interface overhaul of its iWork suite to bring fully-featured word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software to the device, and they look beautiful.

Ship Dates and Prices

The WiFi versions of the iPad will ship worldwide in 60 days (from May 2010 onwards), and the WiFi + 3G versions will ship in 90 days (from June 2010 onwards). They will be priced as follows:

	16 GB	32 GB	64 GB
WiFi	$499	$599	$699
WiFi + 3G	$629	$729	$829

Several accessories will be available after launch, including a Dock to charge and synchronize the device, a keyboard that attaches to the Dock when you’d like to mount the iPad at an angle similar to a laptop screen for typing, a carry-case that can be used to raise the screen for watching videos or to raise the top of the device for easier use on a desk- or tabletop, and a photo connector that will let you import photos from a digital camera.

The built-in WiFi can also be used to connect to an Apple Wireless Keyboard.