I can’t hide my excitement!! The rumored iPad has finally been unveiled by Steve Jobs. Read this report by Yahoo below.
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs on Wednesday revealed the culture-changing company’s latest must-have device, a touchscreen tablet computer annointed the “iPad.”
“We want to kick off 2010 by introducing a truly magical and revolutionary product,” said Jobs, who underwent a liver transplant last year and was making just his second public appearance since September.
The long-awaited iPad has a 9.7-inch (24.6-centimeter) color screen and resembles an oversized iPhone. It is 0.5 inches (1.3 cms) thick, weighs 1.5 pounds (0.7 kgs) and comes with 16, 32, or 64 gigabytes of flash memory.
The cheapest iPad model, with Wi-Fi connectivity and 16GB of memory, is 499 dollars while the most expensive — which includes 3G connectivity and 64GB of memory — costs 829 dollars.
“I think it’s a home run,” said Gartner analyst Van Baker. “It becomes a viable alternative to a netbook and I get the 140,000 applications in the App Store. It is a pretty compelling value.”
Apple said it would start shipping the iPad, which has a virtual keyboard but can also be hooked up to an external keyboard, within 60 days, making them available worldwide in late March.
The 3G version will reach the market in late April.
Dressed in his trademark blue jeans, black turtleneck and sneakers, Jobs appeared on stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater to unveil a product that had been the subject of months of speculation.
Walking around the stage or sitting on a couch, he showed off iPad features which include browsing the Internet, doing email, working with spreadsheets and charts, playing videogames, listening to music or watching video.
Jobs, who appeared thin but healthy, said Apple was launching an online “iBookstore” for the iPad and touted its abilities as an electronic reader of books, newspapers and magazines.
“You can have black-and-white, color, video in your books — whatever the author wants,” he said. “We think the iPad is going to make a terrific e-book reader, not just for popular books but for textbooks as well.
“Amazon has done a great job of pioneering this functionality with the Kindle,” Jobs said. “We are going to stand on their shoulders.”
The legendary Apple CEO said the iPad has support from five of the biggest publishers in the world and that Apple will “open the floodgates for the rest of the publishers starting this afternoon.”
Some technology analysts expect the iPad to pose a challenge to other e-readers while a number of publishers are counting on the device to sell digital versions of their publications.
The New York Times, Time magazine and National Geographic were among the partners whose content was displayed on the device on Wednesday.
Apple said that besides serving as an e-reader, the iPad runs all of the applications available through the Apple App Store for the iPod and iPhone.
“If you are thinking about buying a Kindle, you are probably reconsidering that decision. If you are a developer, you have one more reason to develop applications for Apple,” said Interpret analyst Michael Gartenberg.
Apple simultaneiously released a kit for software developers to tailor applications for the iPad.
Jobs said he expected the device to carve out a place between the laptop computer and the smartphone.
“Do we have what it takes to establish a third category of products in between a laptop and a smartphone?” he asked. “We think we’ve done it.”
If you have enjoyed using the iPhone, you will surely find iPad so much easier on the eyes and with the same functionalities, it’s a product that will serve most of your surfing and entertainment needs.
Well, my hubby says I am going crazy. I have one laptop, one mini notebook and an iPhone and I am now eyeing on the iPad? Where do I have the time to use them all? Haha. But maybe he should bear some responsibility. I got addicted to Apple products ever since he gave me an iPod Nano in 2007. And its now bleeding his pocket. Sorry, hubby!
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