Yes, Apple announces its first tablet computer: The iPad
January 27th, 2010, 10:15 am · 87 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress
It’s official. Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs has announced the company’s first tablet computer: the iPad.
What can you do with it? Surf the Internet, send e-mail, share pictures, watch videos, listen to music, plays games and read eBooks, Jobs told the media crowd who showed up in San Francisco for this morning’s big announcement.
This is definitely what was rumored. And it does look like a giant iPhone. Jobs went on to show numerous publications that have built content fit for the iPad including the New York Times (which also made an appearance on stage), Time and National Geographic.
UDPATE: Some prices revealed: $499 for the 16 GB version. The 32GB is $599 and 64GB is $699. These are all Wi-Fi versions. With 3G, add $130 to each model so the prices jump to $629 $729 and $829. Data plans start at $14.99/month for 250 mb of data or $29.99 for unlimited data. AT&T is providing the service plus offering free Wi-Fi hotspot access.
The iPad begins shipping in 60 days for the non 3G versions. The 3G versions will ship in 90 days.
>> Watch Apple’s iPad video HERE.
It has interesting tweaks on the usual computer/phone features like calendar, Google Maps, contacts. Some featured services already built for iPad: Fandango movie tickets and MLB.com‘s baseball videos.
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| OK. You’ve heard and read the buzz. We know it’s early — hey, you can’t even buy one yet — but we have to know …
So, will you buy one?
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Jobs had a whole segment on, what else, iBooks. Harper Collins, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan are some of the publishers named. It uses the ePub format, an open format so you might be able to upload your own books. According to iLounge.com, Jobs said:
Apple will go further than Kindle with a full-screen eBook reader called iBooks. iBooks has a bookshelf that inclues covers on a shelf. You can see two pages or one page at once as you prefer, and there’s a button at upper left to access the new iBook Store. Fully integrated with app to let you discover, purchase, download eBooks right on your iPad.
SPECS: It has Internet, of course. There’s also Bluetooth and Wi-Fi (802.11n), some will have 3G wireless service built in (see prices above). All 3G models will be unlocked.
It’s very slim at 0.5-inch thick and weighs 1.5 pounds. There’s a 9.7-inch LED-backlit display and it has a virtual keyboard. It’s powered by a 1 GHz Apple A4 chip. It will be available in 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB. There’s an accelerometer, compass and microphone. As for battery life? Apple says it can get 10 hours.
The iPad comes with a dock connector to USB cable, a 10W Power Adapter and documentation. Additional accessories will include a dock, a keyboard dock, a full-sized keyboard and cases. Full specs now on Apple’s site.
But what’s this? The iPad syncs over USB like the iPhone, iTouch. No wireless synching?
Big app news for iPhone fans: It can run all 140,000 iPhone apps unmodified out of the box reports Engadget. Apps can also be enlarged to double the pixels. Games also are expected to be big. Gameloft and Electronic Arts officials were invited on stage to show what they can do with the iPad. “Need for Speed” on the iPad anyone? You can also sync all the iPhone apps you own so you don’t have to pay twice.
Also works with iWork, Apples software for spreadsheets, documents and other office stuff. Interestingly, there’s a special data-entry keyboard with just the number pad a few key buttons to input spreadsheet data easier. See photo. The work apps will be $9.99 each.
What it doesn’t have: No Web cam, no memory card slots (not a surprise), no multi-tasking so you can’t stream radio while working on a document. And it’s not a 3G phone, but it has 3G data service. No mention of a Verizon/Sprint-compatible 3G chip. What else, anyone?
Official images below, click to enlarge:
(I’m not in San Francisco and am monitoring the live coverage from the major tech news sources. I’ll be updating this post as the news comes in. Stay tuned.)
Earlier:
On Twitter: Search for the tags #apple, #appletablet, #itablet Click HERE for a stream of Tweets about the pending Apple news.
If you want to catch the coverage live, here are some live blogging options:
- iLounge
- Cnet
- Engadget
- Gizmodo
- AppleInsider
- All Things D
- Wired
- MacNN
- Ars Technica
- AppleTell
- SlashGear
- CrunchGear
- Financial Post
- The Apple Blog
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When are they going to start selling it?
$499 to $829 — None 3G and Wifi available in 60 days — 3G and Wifi 90 days
iPad, only useful every 28 days?
I was only thinking that!
Well considering that Steve will probably need new body parts soon. Soon! Remember stem cells cost money and money buys stem cells.
Apples usually go on sale the day after announcement… We’ll see
It looks very cool and I cannot wait to get my hands on one….thought the name sames like it’s the name of a tampon.
Haha…i agree, should of just named it iTablet
I cannot wait to get one of these — imagine the possibilities — must for school kids no more lugging around huge textbooks and getting updates with refreshed and corrected information. Also, think about using this in a restaurant — take orders automatically syncs with the POS. Think about using it for everything — this is excellent!!! Gonna get one for the whole family.
I’m a bit wary about replacing textbooks with Ipads. It would be too easily to manipulate information. I feel the same way with regular books. I would rather curl up with a book than an Ipad. For myself, I would highly prefer an Ipad to using Internet on my phone. Easier to read and less strain for my eyes. I would also be against using it for ordering food. As much as I do see what you saying, I also do not want to put a bunch of people potentially out of work.
Change is coming — be ready….
I’m only 31 and have seen a lot of different stuffs come out in my lifetime thus far. I still prefer a nice book to read versus reading on a computer. I already do that all day for my work. If others like that, then okay, but that part is not for me. Just having totally electronic media such as books and newspapers make it so easy to manipulate information in a bad way.
Agreed. Not to mention reading on an LED back-lit display is murder on the eyes and leads to near-sightedness. If you really want to read books electronically it should be done on E-Ink technology. Apple should have had their engineers prefect color E-Ink with touch capabilities instead of foisting years old LED back-lit technology on their product.
Thanks for pissing on my parade!
stephanie, perhaps we should get rid of cellphones and have it back to the way it was when there were actually phone operators who connected people together. Those people lost their jobs with telephones advanced.
Those who do not change with the times are doomed. Money that is saved from terminating needless positions always go elsewhere. It’s in that “elsewhere” that new jobs and industries are created.
Well, right now we have tons of people unemployed all the way from high school graduates up to masters and PhD level, so any talk of people losing jobs, especially when there has been jack crap available for those already unemployed, concerns me a lot. It would be so easy for me at 31 with minimal bills, no family to really provide for, and gainfully employed to say oh well people will find something else, but I realize that the situation is not the same for everyone and I just do not see opportunities out there.
all the students (minus freshman) at my sons school have school issued PC tablets with all their books are loaded on it. They’re protected and you can’t mess with them.
Did they announce the cost? Love the idea, but not if it’s as much as an iMac.
Starting at 499.99 for the stripped down 16GB version.
geez how many techie gizmos does one need ?, maybe the people at apple should encourage people to save their money once in awhile,seems like they come out with products all the time , hype it all up and get peoples hard earned dollars…..
Jeez rjs — you sound like you have tech envy — you must not be too comfortable with tech gadgets and my iphone is the best technology product I have ever bought!!!
I-Phone’s are for kids. Blackberry makes a real business man’s phone.
You’re totally right rjs. Plus you know it will be 60 days for the non-3G version, 90 days for the 3G version, 120 days for the price to drop by 50%…
These things cost nothing to make with Apple’s slave labor over in China.
how much?
and theives are going to love stealing these things !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I guess thieves understand that people cannot have too many gadgets..
))))
I think if you order via Apple’s website you can have something etched into whatever you are buying, at least I thought you could with the Ipods. Maybe they’ll have that available too for the Ipads as I was thinking the same thing as you are about theft and all.
How is that going to keep thieves from stealing it? Your car has a VIN number, but can be stolen.
Point made. I guess it just feels more safe to me. Aren’t they currently having problems with new Macs being stolen out of people’s cars in LA and here in Orange County? I just thought perhaps having your name etched in would kind of be a deterrent.
You have a point as well. I guess I was thinking since it has GPS inside, they could have used that as a sort of lo-jack system.
I know you can lo-jack your iPod – wonder if you can lo-jack the iPad?
You install software into your iPod and if it’s stolen you report it and when it’s plugged into another computer, once they re-sync it with theirs it emails you the IP address of the computer – which you can take to the police and have them locate.
Adding your name on the back and keeping your initial paperwork helps prove it really is yours.
the Archos had this idea for years.
they have so many tablets that look alot neater and way better.
screens in HD and way cheaper.
its not so popular in the Us but popular in different countries..
best buy is where im buying mine.
the archos 5 internet tablet does what the itablet does and more!
its smaller than that big thing too.
if you want it that big.. get the archos 7 than.
Archos is way better!
Archos makes awesome tablets!
I have the Archos 704 wifi and love it Archos products are very nice .
can’t wait for the hype to die down and for people to realize it’s akward size, how fragile it is and the lack of actual functianlality.
“so what’s the difference between the ipad and the iphone?”
“well as you can see; it’s bigger, no camera, battery life is shorter, it’s more fragile, more expensive… oh and you can’t make any calls from it”
Totally correct!
Even the die hard Apple fans on Digg are dogging on this thing.
Oh My God your right can you make call from is, or is it just a super sized ipod touch ?, you can make voip calls on the ipod touch though
And it comes with iWork — OK I am sold — every kid in school needs to have one of these!!! Stimulus money can buy these for the kiddos — didn’t they say Obama is going to be contributing gobs of money to education… here you go…
I don’t feel your enthusiasm for this product. So far, what it can do is already available in myriad devices on the market today. Kids can already have textbooks, Microsoft Office, email, Internet, etc. on devices from $100 – $1,000, what’s the big deal about the iPad?
All in one — 1.5 lbs — compared to the 30+ pounds my kids carry now and the multiple notebooks, etcc….
Oh yeah and all those binders, calculators, paper, internet, computers, textbooks etcc all add up to much more than $100 – 100 dollars
Uh, I was talking about tech products, not office products. Kids today (before the iPad) can choose one of a number of different devices to accomplish all the tasks that the iPad can do. It’s fine that Apple is coming out with their version of a netbook computer, but it’s hardly revolutionary and a game changer.
its illegal to push religion in school as so it should be illegal to push
an OS
What? there always one. OS is not religion.
oh well congrats Apple
i am more a rake clippers shovel and hammer type anyway
i like my computer and my cell phone but thats where i stop.
Totally disappointed in this product, no flash, no 3g, large bezle around the glass. This is just an oversized iPod Touch. This will be the next Newton for Apple.
Not to mention, I have a camera built into the front of my netbook for video chat, three usb ports, sd card reader, vga out bluetooth, mic in… and I can run every program I want…
Agreed. Before the announcement I thought the tablet would be just a large iPod touch, but I also figured that Apple is much smarter than me and the obvious thing would be a large iPod touch. I’m actually shocked to see that they are so unimaginative with this product. It really is just a large iPod touch.
I think the little Alien Jobs keeps in his basment that give him the tech ideas may be Dieing, once its dead apple will nolonger be bale to keep ahead of the tech market.
this is cool but I was hoping they would come out with something to compete more directly with the latest netbooks. As a Mac family, i’m not fully inclined to spend the $$$ on a Macbook laptop for my teen daughter but she does not like the PC system so the netbooks are out (can’t blame her – after using PC’s for 18 years and then switching to Mac – won’t switch back).
Oh well….maybe in the future. Without usb ports it wouldn’t work as well as a netbook replacement.
No USB ports, not even 1? I already have wireless broadband using a USB card. I would not want to have to be stuck with maybe AT&T for service just for my Ipad. That would just plain stink.
Here is some real world video of it being used. If you are using an iPad dont bother the video is in flash….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1BUH9eXy18
Can you make phone calls on the iPad?
i am all about school being more efficient (sp?)
no need to lug around a bunch of weight plus books are expensive 1
lets streamline school !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
$499
Not exactly. $499, $599, and $699 for wifi models; $629, $729, and $829 for wifi + 3G models with 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB respectively.
Do you work in Apple’s marketing department or something? You seem REALLY excited about this product.
Nope — don’t work for Apple (i wish) I am just a wife, mother of 4 middle and high school students, that appreciates technology and what it has done for this world and our lives
iPad price just released 499.99 for stripped model
16GB
Wifi
No 3G
Different models available WITH 3G but prices go way up!
Techie and Hooten you must be window geeks….
Not in the least. I own an iMac, Apple TV, two MacBooks, an iPhone, and 4 iPods. I literally own only one PC. I just don’t think this product is very revolutionary at all. I can’t see this being in huge demand like the iPhone and iPod.
I agree with Hooten
I’m a “windows guy” but I do own a Macbook Pro that I love, a netbook & one gaming rid.
And you have to pay for the 3G access: $15 per month for 250MB or $29.99 for unlimited data. Whoa! Both the Kindle and the nook employ FREE 3G access. Apple sure has a love affair with sending AT&T money.
AT&T’s 3G service stinks. I just let them go and moved to Verizon for mobile broadband and it is so much better. Why is it too you can pay $30 bucks for unlimited data yet their mobile broadband is $60 for 5GB? I would think you could download movies and stuff and that kind of stuff usually takes up tremendous bandwidth and is a lot of data. I thought I read AT&T was having issues with Iphones due to this type of issue already?
Yes, AT&T is very screwy when it comes to pricing. Perhaps AT&T is anticipating an avalanche of iPhone quiters in the future? Trying to get them to trade in their iPhone for an iPad? Get people off their voice network and all… ?
For English, press one. For Spanish, press two. For all the ways technology has failed to improve the quality of our life, press three.
Bitter aern’t we — embrace technology — I have used my iphone to make hotel reservations on the road, as my gps when needed, as a phone, as an text message, as a way to stay connected and so much more. i use my iphone for everything — I very rarely use my macbook air at home — I love my “pocket PC”
Sadly it’s just a big iPod Touch. If it won’t run normal Apple laptop apps then it’s really just a toy. And when you consider it, a big uncomfortable one. I currently use an iPod Touch for what amounts to a netbook computer. I do surfing and POP email on it. It was so convenient that I took my laptop home!
It also connects easily to my car stereo and I listen to it and charge it in the car. It’s VERY convenient. This gigantor iPod iPad is just too much of nothing. It’s a shame….they could have done a lot better. It should have been what amounts to an Apple NetbookPad. Then it would have been useful. Even with a 64gig solid state hard drive. This is just sad.
Exactly. It’s sad because I was looking forward to this announcement. I figured Apple could do something better than this.
Everyone here has to remember that this is first gen iPad — if you don’t like it right now then wait cause the one think Apple is great at is incorporating your desires and always exceeding your expectations — they are always improving, adding, and making “the experience” unbeatable.
I am a first gen iphone user and man the progress of the iphone is amazing. would recommend one to everyone!!!
does it have a usb port so you can use any provider for internet with a modem?