Apple’s Jobs unveils new tablet computer, the iPad
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs on Wednesday revealed the
culture-changing company’s latest must-have device, a touchscreen tablet
computer anointed 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 Wi-Fi version of the iPad,
which has a virtual keyboard but can also dock with an external
keyboard, in late March.
The 3G version will reach the market in late April. The iPad is
“unlocked,” meaning buyers can pick preferred telecom service providers.
Dressed in his trademark blue jeans, black turtleneck and sneakers,
Jobs walked around the stage and sat on a couch at the Yerba Buena
Center for the Arts Theater as he unveiled the hotly anticipated gadget.
He showed off various iPad features which include browsing the Web,
checking 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.”
Jobs said the iPad has support from five big publishers and Apple
will “open the floodgates for the rest of the publishers starting this
afternoon.” Some technology analysts believe the iPad will render other
e-readers obsolete, while a number of publishers are counting on it 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 iPad on Wednesday.
“We want to make something that combines the best of print and the
best of digital,” Times digital operations vice president Martin
Nisenholtz said as he showed off an early version of an app for the
device. “We are incredibly psyched to pioneer the next stage in digital
journalism.” Besides serving as an e-reader, the iPad runs almost 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 simultaneously 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.”
The iPad is “so much more intimate than a laptop and so much more
capable than a smartphone,” he said.
He said it has about 10 hours of battery life.
Analyst Rob Enderle of Silicon Valley’s Enderle Group said the iPad
could be “disruptive for a lot of markets.”
“I have a hard time believing after seeing this that folks are going
to want an e-reader that just does plain text and doesn’t do format or
color,” he said.
Enderle believed iPads could also pose a threat to hand-held gaming
systems and eventually videogame consoles. Gameloft and Electronic Arts
showed off slick games they had crafted with just a few weeks of
preparation, saying the iPad opens countless “new doors.”
“We are going to be able to bring all of the other great EA games for
the iPhone from the App Store to this device in no time,” said Travis
Boatman of EA’s mobile studios.
Apple shares gained 0.94 percent to close at 207.88 dollars on Wall
Street, but slipped a tad in after-hours electronic trading.
SAN FRANCISCO, AFP
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