The iPad Comes With iBooks And Will Cost $500 To $830

[woodyear99]

I have a feeling many people will be buying these even though it on the pricey side.



http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/27/ipad-ibooks-500/

Steve Jobs revealed the Apple iPad today, its much-awaited tablet computer (see our live notes). Jobs positions it as a third computing device between a laptop and a smartphone geared towards the “key tasks” of Web browsing, email, sharing photos, watching videos, playing games, and reading digital books. All current iPhone apps will run on the device, as well as new games and digital books designed specifically for it. An enhanced iPhone SDK released today will support both the iPhone and the iPad.

Some specs: The device has a 9.7 inch display, weighs 1.5 pounds, and is half-an-inch thick. It is powered by new chip made by Apple itself, a 1 GHz A4 and will come with 16Gb to 64 GB of storage. It supports WiFi, has an accelerometer, compass, and built-in speaker and microphone, just like the iPhone. The screen is a full capacitive multi-touch screen. Battery life is supposed to be 10 hours. In addition to WiFi, it will have a 3G option from AT&T. The Wifi-only version, with 16GB of memory, will cost $499. A 32GB version will be $599, 64 GB will be $699, and with 3G from AT&T it will cost $829 (for the 64GB version). AT&T will offer two data plans: $14.99a month for 250 MB of data or $29.99 for unlimited. All the 3G iPads, however, will be unlocked, meaning they can be used on other carriers as well.

On-stage, Apple highlighted the iPad’s use as a digital reader. The iPad comes with a new app called iBooks and an iBooks store. Apple partnered with five publishers to make books available for sale through the iBooks store. “Amazon has done a great job of pioneering this technology,”says Jobs referring to the Kindle. “We’re gonna stand on their shoulders and go farther.”

[Redlum08]

the next great thing from Apple will be called "iFool" oh wait....that's what people will be saying once they buy this iPad...which just looks like an iPod touch on steroids....HAHAHA

[Crixx_Creww]

they actually actualllyyyy named it the iPad ahahahaha
let the always jokes commence!

[woodyear99]

Yeah it sounds stupid now then again look at how the name Ipod caught on, ya never know. These will sell fast, amazing in a time when ppl unemployed....

[TheApprentice]

yea i actually preferred the name iSlate. iPad could be catchy though.
Anyhowz I watched the functionality video apple has on their site.
I like this thing alot. iPod Touch had already made the interconnected media life that much easier. iPad takes this to a whole new level.

[woodyear99]

There will be cheaper tablets no doubt, but Apple's marketing machine keeps on churning getting ppl to spend their premium dollars :p

[QZA]

how can anyone honestly call this "device" a tablet computer. this is no more a computer than an iphone is a computer. its a very simple content  delivery device. as for reading books on the screen which is LCD good luck with that. magazines ... maybe... but not real text heavy books. This thing is an oversized iphone MINUS the phone and the camera. the back is curved so you cant even put it on a flat surface to type a long email, and dont even think of thumb typing on it.

The worst thing however is that you cannot, repeat CANNOT run multiple apps on it. take a min to consider that. all that screen space and assumed cpu power and u cant run two apps at the same time. if this thing was running palm's web os which btw can run ten apps at the same time maybe it would be worth 500 bucks  and u have to pay a monthly fee on top of a 130 usd premium for 3G. and ppl think kindles are expensive. if u buy the 16 gig with 3g and a data plan thats unlimited after one year you would have paid close to a C note , and thats for the cheapest version.

i cant see any reason that someone who owns a laptop or net book of any kind along with a half decent smartphone would buy this device, far less if u own the superior iphone 3G along with a laptop.

i cant wait to see trinis showing off with this device in rituals  not knowing ppl silently laughing at then.

April the first is coming soon a good day to purchase

[woodyear99]

Once again while people may say it overpriced, that there are superior alternatives etc. I have a feeling Apple is going and make a killing here. Look at the amount of people buying iphones we could argue that they are inferior to other smartphones as well. Perhaps these products are being sold at a premium price regardless of functionality so that they can be touted as luxury goods?

[Spazosaurus]

This thing is as about useful as a high speed dvd rewinder.

Hot air.

A netbook is about 100 times more versatile than that sh1t, for CHEAPER.

The sad thing is that people going to buy it just because Mobs pose with one in a couple pictures and claimed it was 'magical'

Oh frigging please.

[TriniXaeno]

lol @ IFool and high speed DVD rewinder.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=iFool

It's not a product that will find favour here, that's for sure. That isn't to say apple doesn't have their followers.

They're like the concept cars of the PC industry. So on the plus side, we will see some affordable ipad clones in coming times which will no doubt compete in the tablet/e-reader space.

Bringing touch screen technology more and more into the mainstream.

Might even tackle / compliment some other product categories in the home.

As an extended interface for media center for example.

Lets not kill the innovators just yet, some good might come of this.

[TheApprentice]

Its a good product. My biggest gripe with the device and a deal-breaker for me is lack of Flash in the browser. That is just unacceptable by today's web standards I could live without flash on the iPod Touch...but on iPad ridiculous.

[TriniXaeno]

do they plan to fix that with an os update?

[woodyear99]

Probably and they could monetize that as well, $9.99 for OS upgrade? lol

[Arcmanov]

Wha '9.99'?  Is Apple we talkin bout here yuh know.

That comin in version 2.0 of the iPad. 

Steve Jobs will make you buy a whole nother device just to include incremental upgrades.

How much yuh want to bet the next version will have a camera, and the version after that, a USB port, and the version after THAT...flash.

Steve know how to make hoes out of you Apple lovers. 

[Crixx_Creww]

Its a good product. My biggest gripe with the device and a deal-breaker for me is lack of Flash in the browser. That is just unacceptable by today's web standards I could live without flash on the iPod Touch...but on iPad ridiculous.

how is this a good device??? ITS AN IPHONE!!!
its not a computer or laptop or netbook even its a frakkin iphone!! and lol he gets to charge 5 to 800 for it
and then tells you that yes mac sucks with flash BUT you should be grateful for the honour of using this broken device.
steupsssss

jobs have alyuh sniffin dah kool aid yes

[woodyear99]

Hey everyone entitled to their own opinion. Say what you want but these are going to sell like crazy, see the trend? They started off with the first iphones, then made small incremental changes in each new model. Who would have thought that people would pay so much for such a simple (many say limited) product.

They launched the ipod touch to go more mass market and to get other users who did not want to switch out their smartphones. This Ipad idea doesn't seem that far fetched, quite logical if you ask me.
They have already identified a target market, so why not go to the next level with a larger "ipod touch" aka ipad? Say what you will but they going to make some serious $$$ from this and at the end of the day that is their main goal.

Clearly many of us here are not the target market for this device and the responses show it. However let us not forget that there are many that want a device such as this. I read somewhere that there are people who want a tablet but don't want to be bogged down with all the extra complicated features of installing/upgrading windows, adding more ram etc. Many of us will scoff at that thinking who doesn't want extra functionality but I think Apple has focused on making simple/closed interfaces for that exact market. It seems to have paid off.

[TheApprentice]

That's the key thing here aye, simplicity with a larger screen.

[woodyear99]

Points 1 and 4 definitely software, will probably come in some form after release.

[Crixx_Creww]

flash in browser is software related. The OS sucks at flash support

lack of usb... BECAUSE ITS A MC IPHONE!! like literally!! the innards of an iphone plus a big screen!! so they say why spend any more money on manufacturing right now?? pfft!!

lack of multitasking carries over from the iphone which i believe is also a software issue.
Flash is software issue for sure.

[Spazosaurus]

My 2yr old 230mhz cpu smartphone can handle flash with ease. These restrictions on a modern device are silly and stupid.