Few companies attract such a storm of hype and anticipation as Apple manages with each product launch. Despite the company itself remaining tight-lipped, the last few months have seen the entire global online community spin unfounded rumour and gossip into a tightly wound ball of conjecture that Apple would, at some point this year, launch a tablet computer.
Now, after all that speculation, it’s here: The Apple iPad. Jobs said that there would be no point in creating a device that sits between a smartphone and a laptop unless it handled certain tasks better than both. He says it does.
– Check out our live-blog of tonight’s event
– See the iPad concepts and photos
– This morning’s news at ten; last minute guesses abound
What is it? Essentially a mix between a giant iPhone and a shrunken MacBook, the iPad – announced by Steve Jobs himself at the Apple event in San Francisco this evening – is a 9.7-inch, 0.5-inch thin tablet rocking a full HD (incredibly hi-res) touchscreen interface with multi-touch, a Wi-Fi and 3G connected, a bespoke OS comparable to the iPhone and a penchant for gaming and apps. Inside, there’s a super slick 1Ghz Apple A4 processor, but there doesn’t appear to be support for multi-tasking with different apps.
Apps from the iPhone can be run in miniature on the screen, or employ "pixel doubling" to make them full screen. Bespoke iPad games look amazing, and make full use of multitouch. e-book reading is handled by a new program called iBook, which comes with its own iBook Store (very similar to iTunes). Font size, page turning and zooming are all controlled by pinching and swiping.
It’s got an intuitive pop-up touch keyboard and supports the same kind of gestures as the iPhone, plus boasts an accelerometer that lets you hold the device anyway you see fit. The iTunes app is akin to what you’d see on a computer than iPhone, and the iPad has 16 – 64GB storage. Battery life? It’ll stay alive for a month in standby mode. If that onscreen keyboard isn’t for you, there’s a keyboard docking accessory that’ll charge the unit and also prop it up for watching movies.
Impressively, there’s a version of iWork on the iPad that makes use of both the hi-res screen and the multi-touch gesturing. The accelorometer also gets a look in, as charts on Numbers and Keynote can be viewed in any direction.
Jobs himself says of the iPad that it is "so much more capable than a laptop.”
And the price? A 250mb of data per-month 3G data plan comes in at $14.99 a month. An unlimited plan is $29.99. These can be turned on and bought on a month-by-month basis on the iPad itself. The unit is $499 in the States for the non-3G 16GB model. The 64GB, 3G model will go for $829, with a further 4 models inbetween. UK pricing is yet to be confirmed, as it won’t be out over here until June. Unlocked iPads can be bought from the US in 60 days time.
So there we have it; months of fevered speculation ended in one foul swoop by the Cupertino boys and the iPad announcement. "So iPad," Jobs says. "It’s phenomenal. Email is fantastic, best device for photos, great for music, great for video. It runs almost all of the 140k apps on the app store, as well as a whole new generation of apps."
Stay tuned to T3 for hands-on pics, and a review just as soon as we can get one. In the mean time, check out the links below:
– Apple iPad gallery
– Apple iPad video
– Apple iPad opinions
Link: Apple Store
