It's Here! Apple's iPad Unveiled

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (January 27, 2010) – The long-awaited Apple iPad has finally arrived, unveiled today amid white-hot media hype by Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs.

"What this device does is extraordinary," Jobs said during a press conference at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater. "It's phenomenal. It's the best browsing experience you'll ever have. It's way better than a laptop, way better than an iPhone. Right there, you're holding the Internet in your hands."

Looking like a giant iPhone, the device Apple showed today has only one button on the tablet's front surface. The iPad is only 1/2 inch thick and weighs 1.5 pounds and the IPS screen is 9.7 inches. Powered by a 1 GHz A4 chip made by Apple the iPad can have 16GB of memory and 32GB or 64GB of Flash storage. The iPad has Wi-Fi, 802.11n, and Bluetooth. Jobs said the iPad has a 10-hour battery life.

For photographers, the iPad has a Camera Connection Kit that offers two ways to import photographs and videos from a digital camera. The connector lets a user import photographs and videos using the camera's USB cable, or an SD Card reader imports directly from an SD card.

For publishers of newspapers, magazines, and books, the device offers a new way to charge for digital, online publications. Media companies such as The New York Times Co., Time-Life Inc., and Condé Nast have for months had development teams working on building electronic versions of their publications that are "tablet ready" in hopes that an electronic newsstand concept will move them out of the red ink and into a money-making position. This month The New York Times announced, finally, their plans for charging for online content beginning next year, and coincidentally or not the Times' Web front page was the first Web site Jobs demonstrated Wednesday during the iPad's long-anticipated launch. And on Apple's Web site beginning after the launch, any image of the iPad that shows a newspaper's content shows pages from The New York Times.

Apple says that "virtually every one" of the Apps for the iPhone will run on the iPad "virtually unmodified." Apple has modified their Apps, such as iTunes, Calendar, eMail and YouTube, to take advantage of the large touch-screen display. Third-party software developers will today get access to the iPad's software development kit.

Positioned between Apple's entry-level MacBook laptop that sells for about $999 and Apple's high-end iPod Touch that sells for $399, the iPad was correctly expected to enter the market priced somewhere between the two.

Jobs says the 16GB iPad will start at $499, $599 for 32GB, $600 for 64GB, and add $130 to each for 3G network features. A data plan of $15 a month will allow 250MB and $30 a month for unlimited data access is planned, Jobs, said, and both plans are pre-paid with AT&T with no contract and the service can be activated from the iPad without going to an AT&T store. Jobs said that this summer there will be "even better deals" for international customers.

Jobs said the iPad will ship in 60 days and the 3G model will ship in 90 days.

Apple's CEO opened the introduction for the iPad by showing a picture of Moses holding a tablet.

While media has been waiting to see if the iPad will save print publications, most of Apple's presentation of the new product focused on how the tablet handles video. The presentation seemed to project that the device was designed so that users could carry movies and television shows with them on the road. Jobs used the iPad to show YouTube videos and scenes from Pixar's movie "Up". However, The New York Times was also demonstrated on the iPad's screen by Apple's CEO. He also showed off how the iPad has a mapping program that's powered by Google.

(Watch an Apple video about the iPad's features.)

Jobs also announced today that Apple's App Store now has more than 140,000 applications which have been downloaded more than 3 billion times. "Apple is a mobile device company," Jobs said today, adding that they've become a $50-billion-a-year company with most of that revenue coming from iPod, iPhone, aned Mac sales. He said that the 250th million iPod was sold last week.

While those who were listening to Jobs give a hard-sell hype on the iPad, many long-time Apple customers and investors were glad to see that Apple's CEO appears to be in much better health when he was last seen before his liver transplant last year.

Despite Apple's corporate culture of extreme secrecy, the coming of the tablet device may have been one of Silicon Valley's worst kept secrets as rumors and small details about the multimedia-rich device have swirled around Apple fans and trade publications for months. The invitation to today's unveiling simply said, "Come see our latest creation." CNET Networks reported that Twitter was "swamped" in the hours before Apple's announcement today.

From a corporate standpoint, no one's more interested in the device's potential than newspaper and magazine publishers. Many have expressed their hopes that Apple's tablet may be an ideal delivery device for electronic versions of their publications. Time Life. Inc. and Condé Nast have already reported that they're actively working on an "electronic newsstand" for digital versions of all their magazine titles, and major newspapers like The New York Times have been rumored to be in development projects with Apple to create content (although their executives have repeatedly denied any knowledge of such a device).

Publishers were happy to hear last week that one of the reason's Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs wants Apple's new tablet device to be well received is that he "believes democracy is hinged on a free press and that depends on there being a professional press," and that the new Apple tablet will give old media a shot at a new (and profitable) life. Jobs' thoughts were reported by The New York Times last week, the same newspaper whose executive editor, Bill Keller, mentioned an "Apple tablet device" in a company briefing last year and then spent the next few weeks denying knowledge of any Apple device.

The new Apple iPad runs on a version of the iPhone's operating system.

 

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