iPhone OS-based Apple iPad (tablet) officially announced, prices start at $500 (video)
By Ilinca Nita on 27 Jan 10The long-awaited Apple Tablet has just been officially announced, and it’s not called the iTablet of iSlate: it’s the Apple iPad – a simple and quite nice name.
Steve Jobs himself is presenting the Apple iPad as being revolutionary and magical, saying that it’s better than both a phone and a laptop.
Based on iPhone 3.2 OS, the Apple iPad is very thin (an iPhone meets iMac sort of device) and has a large on-screen virtual QWERTY keyboard. Any iPhone app can run on it.
It can be used for web browsing (“the best web experience you’ve ever had”), email, video, music, photos, games and ebooks.
The iPad features Google Maps, Safari browser, Youtube (in HD) and comes with the iTunes store built-in.
Apparently, there’s no Flash support at the moment (huh, that’s not cool).
The iPad comes with a new app – iBook, featuring a virtual bookshelf. You can buy and download ebooks directly on your iPad.
Interestingly: some iPad models will have Wi-Fi only, while others will have Wi-Fi and 3G. In the US, Apple and AT&T will offer two data plans to make that 3G connection useful: a 250MB plan at $14.99 per month, and an unlimited plan at $29.99 per month.
All iPads will be “unlocked”. Deals with operators around the world will be announced in June.
Apple iPad prices:
- Apple iPad 16GB with Wi-Fi: $499
- Apple iPad 32GB with Wi-Fi: $599
- Apple iPad 64GB with Wi-Fi: $699
- Apple iPad 16GB with Wi-Fi and 3G: $629
- Apple iPad 32GB with Wi-Fi and 3G: $729
- Apple iPad 64GB with Wi-Fi and 3G: $829
The Wi-Fi models will be available in 60 days (March), while the Wi-Fi + 3G ones in 90 days (April).
The iPad will have accessories: a case, a dock and a keyboard.
Some Apple iPad specs:
- 0.5 inches thin
- 9.7 inch multi-touch capacitive display with 1024 x 768 pixel resolution
- 1GHz Apple A4 chip
- Accelerometer, compass
- Bluetooth 2.1
- Wi-Fi
- Assisted GPS (only for the Wi-Fi + 3G model)
- SIM card tray (only for the Wi-Fi + 3G model)
- 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack
- 16GB, 32GB, 64GB internal memory
- Standby: over 1 month
Video – Steve Jobs presenting the iPad – via ITN news:
If you’re wondering what’s the hardware / design difference between the Apple iPad with Wi-Fi and the Apple iPad with Wi-Fi and 3G, here’s the Wi-Fi only version:
And the Wi-Fi + 3G version:
Live photos from the launch event, via Engadget:
The iPad is now featured on Apple’s official website – where you can also download the iPhone 3.2 SDK for it.
If you liked the post, you might find these interesting too:
- Free Google eBooks app available for Android, iPhone, iPad (video)
- Apple sells 1 million iPads (only in the US)
- iPad 2 to be followed by iPad 3 later this year?
- New Apple iPad 2 (white and black versions) with iOS 4.3 officially announced, prices start at $499
- Apple’s next tablet to be called iPad HD, not iPad 3?
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