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Apple Launches iPad
Thanks to what can only be a series of so-called controlled leaks by Apple, we all knew that Apple’s much-awaited new product reveal would be a tablet. And, lo, the iPad is born!
It’s been described by its maker as a revolutionary device for browsing the web, reading and sending email, enjoying photos, watching videos, listening to music, playing games, reading e-books and much more.
The all-new Apple iPad features a responsive high-resolution multi-touch display that’s designed to let users physically interact with applications and content. At just 0.5 inches thick and weighing just 1.5 pounds, the iPad is thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook and includes 12 new innovative apps designed especially for the iPad.
It will run almost all of the over 140,000 apps in the App Store. iPad will be available in late March starting at the breakthrough price of just $499 in the US (no indication UK/ROI/Europe pricing yet).
“Intimate, intuitive and fun” – CEO Jobs
In a presentation by Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs, he said: “iPad is our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price.” He continued, “iPad creates and defines an entirely new category of devices that will connect users with their apps and content in a much more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before.”
Every app works in both portrait and landscape, automatically animating between views as the user rotates iPad in any direction.
The precise multi-touch interface is designed to make surfing the web on the iPad an entirely new experience, dramatically more interactive and intimate than on a computer, we’re told.
Reading and sending email is designed to be fun and easy on iPad’s large screen and almost full-size “soft” keyboard. Users can import photos from a Mac, PC or digital camera, see them organised as albums, and enjoy and share them using iPad’s elegant slideshows. It’s also easy to watch movies, TV shows and YouTube, all in HD or flip through pages of an e-book that were downloaded from Apple’s new iBookstore while listening to one’s music collection.
iBooks from the iBookstore
iPad runs almost all of the over 140,000 apps on the App Store, including apps already purchased for an iPhone or iPod touch. The iTunes Store facilitates access to the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store with a catalogue of over 11 million songs, over 50,000 TV episodes and over 8,000 films including over 2,000 in stunning high definition video. Apple also announced the new iBooks app for iPad, which includes Apple’s new iBookstore and provides what Apple cliams to be the best way to browse, buy and read books on a mobile device. The iBookstore will feature books from major and independent publishers.
Apple also introduced a new version of iWork for iPad, claiming it to be the first desktop-class productivity suite designed specifically for multi-touch devices.
With already-familiar Mac applications commonly found on regular Mac desktop and laptop computers, Pages, Keynote and Numbers make the creation of beautifully formatted documents, stunning presentations with animations and transitions, together with spreadsheets with charts, functions and formulas – all of which look much better than their Windows equivalents. The three apps will be available separately through the App Store for US$9.99 each.
Same iTunes syncing as iPhone and iPod Touch
iPad syncs with iTunes just like the iPhone and iPod touch, using the standard Apple 30-pin to USB cable, meaning that all contacts, photos, music, movies, TV shows, applications (and more) can be synchronised from a Mac or PC. All the apps and content are downloaded to the iPad from the App Store, iTunes Store and iBookstore will be automatically synced to the user’s iTunes library the next time it is connected to the computer.
The iPad has been given a 9.7-inch, LED-backlit display which features IPS technology designed to deliver crisp, clear images and consistent colour with an ultra-wide 178 degree viewing angle.
The precise, capacitive multi-touch display is (according to Apple’s Press Release) “amazingly accurate and responsive” whether scrolling web pages or playing games.
Additionally, the intelligent soft keyboard pioneered on iPhone takes advantage of iPad’s larger display to offer an almost full-size soft keyboard. Many users will welcome the fact that the iPad also connects to the new iPad Keyboard Dock with a full-size traditional keyboard – something considered to be a really important and handy feature here at SimplyDV Towers.
Two versions – Wi-Fi with 3G, Wi-Fi without
iPad comes in two versions—one with Wi-Fi and the other with both Wi-Fi and 3G. iPad includes the latest 802.11n Wi-Fi, and the 3G versions support speeds up to 7.2 Mbps on HSDPA networks. Apple and AT&T announced breakthrough 3G pre-paid data plans for iPad with easy, on-device activation and management.
Pricing & Availability
The iPad will be available worldwide in late March for a suggested retail price of US$499 for the 16GB model, US$599 for the 32GB model, US$699 for the 64GB model. The Wi-Fi + 3G models of iPad will be available in April in the US and selected countries for a suggested retail price of US$629 for the 16GB model, US$729 for the 32GB model and US$829 for the 64GB model. iPad will be sold in the US through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorised Resellers. International pricing and worldwide availability will be announced at a later date. iBookstore will be available in the US at launch.
Smug Footnote by Author
Yours truly even predicted that it was to be called the “iPad”. And guess what? He was right!
Source (Text and Images) Apple UK. Additional words: Colin Barrett
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