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.
Looks great and I’m sure it will be a joy to use, but count me among the disappointed. I was hoping to replace my MacBook Air with one of these for when I travel overseas. I was hoping there would be a MicroSD card slot like all Macs have in order to import pictures on the go without the need to carry another attachement and then an iWeb application for updating my site on the go. This would have made the iPad (hate the name) perfect for me. It’s a great first step and Apple will sell a ton of them, but I have an iPod Touch and I will wait for the first revision.
it isn’t supposed to be a laptop replacement.
it isn’t supposed to be a phone replacement.
i am glad it doesn’t have a camera; i can take it places i can’t take my iphone and macbook.
“Visualizer” would be cool while playing music.
@ABQ Peter
I’m not looking for the iPad to be a laptop replacement and I don’t care about the lack of a camera either, but a way to update your iWeb site on the go and import photos easily does not seem unreasonable.
but a way to update your iWeb site on the go and import photos easily does not seem unreasonable.
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Not sure about iWeb updating, but I’ve got a feeling that since iLife 10 was not announced today, it will be soon with some custom made UI’s for the iPad.
Photo import seems easy enough with what looks to be a 1″ big adapter for the 30 pin connector port.. Just slip the adapter in your iPad case..
It’s a cool toy. I was hoping for something more powerful. Full MacOS, Wacom like surface, web cam, etc.
No sale.
Magic Word is “family” as in my family needs a full working computer. Not a toy.
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/the-apple-ipad-first-impressions/?pagemode=print
I’m with ChrissyOne. Ummm no I did not mean that I am WITH C1 but rather I agree with C1’s responses to the rather stupid whiney Gizmodo response. They mirror my own.
I said it earlier, may people cannot seem to look beyond the bells and whistles on the immediate gadget and see the larger picture. Bunch of navel gazers. This version may not be for you but perhaps the next revision will be….but that is BESIDE the point.
Magic Word is “family” as in my family needs a full working computer. Not a toy.’
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However, a large percentage of families simply need an affordable solution for the internet, email and photos.. i.e. Netbook buyers.. For them, the iPad will be the perfect device.
@ KurtMac
What makes you think it won’t sync with MobileMe? This is basically running the iPhone OS, so what’s the problem? Since it’s running iCal and Address Book and Safari, I can’t imagine it WON’T have full MobileMe sync…
NO webcam for iChat with granma or son that live in other states,
NO camera, I think i’ll pass till 2nd gen a year from now, i’d rather buy a small netbook for 280 or 300 bucks, with those features.
So it is a giant iPod Touch.
No thank you.
@ Buster
It’s okay, let the bozos cry like fools. Personally, I’m cackling like a mad woman.
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The CNET forums are awash with slambois tonight,
http://news.cnet.com/8601-13860_3-10442060-0.html?communityId=2067&targetCommunityId=2067&blogId=56&tag=mncol;tback
I like this one..
OP- “I think that the people in Redmond are probably ROFL. It’s just a mega iPod!”
A- You mean the kind of ROFL you get when you get kicked in the stones?
@ Brilliant Sandwich
Which Mac(s) have a SD card reader? I don’t know of any. My MBP has a PCM slot.
So it is a giant iPod Touch.
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With 7 times the screen real estate, a much faster and more powerful processor with the ability to run much more sophisticated apps, like Apple’s own iWork productivity apps. And it starts at only $100 more than the top end touch.
Yes, thank you
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Just about perfect! Just the right size, so I can see it. Instant on. Lots of apps the including games (pity Sony et al.) I have a great camera, a Mac Pro for real work. The iPad “just works”!
Holy iPorn Batman!!!
“Just works” for ME!
I am a grown man who enjoys the company of other grown men. Two grown men sharing a glass of red wine and listening to pop music.
I wonder when I’ll be able to play with one at the Apple Store!
This is a wonderful device. Finally, something that is uniquely a tablet computer, and not a laptop with a compromised desktop OS and tacked on touch screen. It won’t replace a full computer, but it will replace a “netbook” for a lot of people, and that’s the target audience.
The lack of a camera can be compensated for if you also own an iPhone. All it takes for chatting then is to make a data connection (WiFi or Bluetooth, or, hell, wired) with the iPhone, then put the iPhone upside down with its camera pointed at you.
Note that this combination also reduces the need for the iPad to have GPS and 3G compatibility. Indeed, through the data connection with the iPhone, these features become accessible as well.
The ideal combination: entry level iPad + iPhone
So here is the typical Mac Fanboy techno-geek (my) reaction after weeks of speculation:
WTF? It’s just an oversized iPod Touch! This blows – I’m so dissappointed. I don’t need this. . . What? it’s only $499 well maybe it’ll be useful for some stuff since it’s not that expensive. . . What? The data plan starts at $14.99 with no contract? That’s much cheaper than the $59 I was expecting to pay ATT for tethering on my iPhone so now I won’t need that. That’s $45×12=$540 per year that I’d be saving in yearly fees. I’ll splurge for the 3G model. I was thinking of getting a Kindle and now I don’t have to. That’s another $259 is savings. Screw it, might as well go for the top of the line 64G with 3G.
Typical reaction from non-techo average user (wife). It looks cute and look the book reader even has a book shelf. I want one.
I don’t know. I’ve been wrong before but no Flash support is going to turn a lot of people off.