Apple today introduced iPad, 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. iPad’s responsive high-resolution Multi-Touch display lets users physically interact with applications and content. iPad is just 0.5 inches thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds– thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook. iPad includes 12 new innovative apps designed especially for the iPad, and 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.
“iPad is our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, in the press release. “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.”
iPad features 12 next-generation Multi-Touch applications. 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 makes surfing the web on iPad an entirely new experience, dramatically more interactive and intimate than on a computer. Reading and sending email is fun and easy on iPad’s large screen and almost full-size “soft” keyboard. Import photos from a Mac®, PC or digital camera, see them organized as albums, and enjoy and share them using iPad’s elegant slideshows. Watch movies, TV shows and YouTube, all in HD or flip through pages of an e-book you downloaded from Apple’s new iBookstore while listening to your music collection.
iPad runs almost all of the over 140,000 apps on the App Store, including apps already purchased for your iPhone or iPod touch. The iTunes Store gives you access to the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store with a catalog 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, 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, the first desktop-class productivity suite designed specifically for Multi-Touch. With Pages, Keynote and Numbers you can create beautifully formatted documents, stunning presentations with animations and transitions, and spreadsheets with charts, functions and formulas. The three apps will be available separately through the App Store for $9.99 each.
iPad syncs with iTunes just like the iPhone and iPod touch, using the standard Apple 30-pin to USB cable, so you can sync all of your contacts, photos, music, movies, TV shows, applications and more from your Mac or PC. All the apps and content you download on iPad from the App Store, iTunes Store and iBookstore will be automatically synced to your iTunes library the next time you connect with your computer.
iPad’s brilliant 9.7-inch, LED-backlit display features IPS technology to deliver crisp, clear images and consistent color with an ultra-wide 178 degree viewing angle. The highly precise, capacitive Multi-Touch display is amazingly accurate and responsive whether scrolling web pages or playing games. The intelligent soft keyboard pioneered on iPhone takes advantage of iPad’s larger display to offer an almost full-size soft keyboard. iPad also connects to the new iPad Keyboard Dock with a full-size traditional keyboard.
iPad is powered by A4, Apple’s next-generation system-on-a-chip. Designed by Apple, the new A4 chip provides exceptional processor and graphics performance along with long battery life of up to 10 hours. Apple’s advanced chemistry and Adaptive Charging technology deliver up to 1,000 charge cycles without a significant decrease in battery capacity over a typical five year lifespan
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.
Continuing Apple’s dedication to designing and creating environmentally responsible products, each iPad enclosure is made of highly recyclable aluminum and comes standard with energy-efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. iPad contains no brominated flame retardants and is completely PVC-free.
Apple today released a new Software Development Kit (SDK) for iPad, so developers can create amazing new applications designed to take advantage of iPad’s capabilities. The SDK includes a simulator that lets developers test and debug their iPad apps on a Mac, and also lets developers create Universal Applications that run on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.
iPad will be available in late March worldwide for a suggested retail price of US$499 for the 16GB model, $599 for the 32GB model, $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 $629 for the 16GB model, $729 for the 32GB model and $829 for the 64GB model. iPad will be sold in the US through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers. International pricing and worldwide availability will be announced at a later date. iBookstore will be available in the US at launch.
Find out more about iPad here.
Source: Apple Inc.
Yes really. I love apple iPods iPhone macs just as much as everyone here but this is lacking and doesn’t meet my expectations. I don’t need one yet. Maybe next year
I don’t quite get it. A bigger iPhone that runs iWork. Price is shockingly low.
“Did they actually say no multi-tasking?”
There’s no way they would’ve failed to demonstrate that part.
Wow… this will be a hard act for Obama to follow tonite in State of the Union
Posted this a little while ago in the Live thread, thought I’d throw it in here…
I am always a little skeptical of overblown pre-release claims, but I think this will be a game changer for a few reasons:
1. The price point is really good for such a device. Hell the max cofiguration with 65Gb RAM, WiFi + 3G is under $900! This will appeal to a wide range of possible customers, from the cash-strapped older folks who just want to access mail and see grandkids photos, to the high-flying exec who wants to both show off his latest gadgetry and needs to edit Powerpoint (excuse me, Keynote) presentations in Business class, which brings me to…
2. The presence of iWork. This could be the beginning of the first major chink in the MS Office monopoly. How many of those execs, who otherwise think they need M$ for the enterprise, will get one of these, find they want to edit a Word or Powerpoint document, learn there’s no MS Office for iPad but there is this nifty iWork which is even better, and pretty soon will be talking to their corporate IT people about why they don’t have iWork on the office desktop? Also how many regular folks who get the low end pad and have never tried iWork will think “Hey, for $10 extra, might as well give it a shot” and then find going back to using M$ Office feels like having a tooth pulled?
Perhaps this gadget has a limited market: schools will want one per student to replace blackboards, textbooks etc. and in some cases computers, and people who travel (e.g. the military) and people who don’t travel but like to surf the web. It opens up a new and significant chunk of gross profit and expands the product to fill in the kindle gap for example.
Yes, it’s got limitations, but the pluses are huge. What will the next version have? Apple will add some goodies such as mentioned above, including higher capacity flash memory as it’s done with the iPhone.
$500 is a great price for this. But I am getting the 32 gig model. My 16 gig iPhone is only half full so 32 is plenty for me. And don’t need 3G as long as I have my iPhone. This will be great for my use.
Nope, I’m out. Can’t replace my laptop with it, can’t replace my iPhone with it. It’s an ereader with so-so battery life (and eInk is easier to read text from for long periods). I don’t need another subscription plan that dilutes the usefulness of the ones I already pay for (iPhone and internet access). No speaker, as far as I can see. Didn’t really expect a camera (it would have only been useful for video conferencing), or GPS, at least on this first round.
It was pretty much what I feared. There just wasn’t enough space between the laptop and the iPhone for this device. Newton 2.0. I’m off to get a Kindle and a Macbook Air.
I hope Apple sells all they can make, but I’ve got the iPhone and an MBP. For me I don’t see the need for the iPad since it seems to be little more than a big iTouch.
I really was hoping for a Mac OS X capable device with a little modified GUI but then I thought ok the iPhone OS is our OS X with different applications and different using experience than the Desktop OS, but only God knows how much I wanted the camera, video conferencing is one of the most important things when on road for me. Some sniffs, some tears, and hoping for a bluetooth external camera capability and I’m ok. And Logic pro, and Ableton live, Photoshop, Premiere, oh wait, Second life, KisMAC, Apple remote Desktop and all the others on my dock and…
Since I’m currently without a laptop, this makes perfect sense for me. Add that to the fact that I’m still using a Day 1 iPhone and the pluses multiply – my phone plan is 20 bucks cheaper than a 3G plan, so really, instead of upgrading my iPhone, I’d just go for the unlimited 3G plan for 30 bucks a month. That way I get 3G browsing on a full size screen for just 10 bucks more than I’d be paying for a new iPhone.
And when you think about the competition from Kindle and Nook, it’s almost laughable. The high-end Kindle is only 10 dollars cheaper than the entry level iPad, and (aside from lacking 3G) the iPad does a bazillion more things than the Kindle does.
@wyatt,
Actually I think Steve did the CinC a huge favor. There’s nothing revolutionary here. It’s literally a big iPod touch.
no verizon.
BUT it IS unlocked 3G — does that mean T-Mobile? Sprint? Who else does 3G today (besides ATT)?
What I want to know is if they are going to make a larger one in a couple of years and call it the MaxiPad? I think the name sucks big red ones. And no video camera? That’s not smart either. I could see plopping one of these babies down in a video meeting and going to town but with no camera, that nips that in the bud. No sale here either.
@wiredzen,
Engadget confirms no multi-tasking. It’s the same walled off, press Home for everything approach as the iPhone and iPod touch.
“There’s no multitasking at all. It’s a real disappointment. All this power and very little you can do with it at once. No multitasking means no streaming Pandora when you’re working in Pages… you can figure it out. It’s a real setback for this device.”
The next, enhanced version is to be called the maxiPad
@ steve
I never thought they’d sell anything called a “Wii” either.
Apple has failed to address a number of issues as to why anyone needs this product.
I think that not allowing for handwriting recognition/notetaking with some kind of stylus was a mistake — I can’t use this to take notes in a meeting efficiently.
This device seems to fill the same market segment as the macbook air, but even more underwhelming. And there are a lot of questions remaining for business users — will it run MS Office, will it run Exchange support. No multitasking is a bummer.
I hope Apple doesn’t ailienate its’ friends and partners with this product — they are taking on Amazon, MicroSoft, Google, and Intel all at the same time.
The thing it has going for it is the affordability factor, and the amazingly low price for unlimited data on the 3G system.
I feel like its’ a nice device for folks who ride the train into work, and kind of pointless for the rest of us.
Grrilla it does have a speaker.
I’m most concerned with iTunes streaming over wifi for home use that’s pretty much what it will take for me.
Otherwise it’s clearly a game changer for the ereader and netbook market. Will surely get a good hands on at the apple store but I’m personally not ready to buy one. I’m excited to see what apple does with the iPhone appletv iTunes MobileMe and ipad version 2.0 for sure
Is this just a big iPod Touch with iwork, ibooks, and 3G? Where’s the magic?? My iPhone been doing most of this for years??
The price is surprisingly good. $499 for entry level model isn’t bad. No contracts either.
Yes, What a “Revolutionary” product.. LOL!
And I think they really missed a tremendous marketing opportunity, as well. They should have given this thing more iPhone and touch compatibility (think external monitor and keyboard for iPhone, as well as the ability to make use of the iPhone’s video and camera). It should have been cable- and bluetooth-connectible to the iPhone. I think it would have had more success marketed as an iPhone accessory (with all these other functions, of course) than as a standalone device.
And if it was tetherable to the iPhone for data access? No brainer – everyone who could afford it would have bought one as well as the unlimited data plan for their iPhone.
@ Anthony
You can write faster than you can type? Really?
Need an iChat cam, Bluetooth keyboard connection, and possibly more memory. When at least the first two arrive, I’ll get one.