Apple Unveils the iPad : Our Comprehensive Look
Well, we’ve been speculating the release of an Apple-branded tablet for quite some time, and finally, it’s here. Although the name is questionable per it’s immediate female-product name association, it doesn’t have wings or needs to be changed, but it is a beaut. Now, whether it can actually squeeze itself into the infinitesimal niche between laptops and smart-phones is yet to be seen. However, if there’s anything Apple is good at doing, it’s changing the game.
How an iPad tablet device could fit into that void will be largely up to both developers, and of course consumers. Without going too much on a publishing tangent here, we’ll outline the iPad in terms of both hardware and software functionality.
For lack of better terms, the iPad is more or less, a giant iPod touch on steroids. Think of the iPad as Barry Bonds circa 2007, and the iPod Touch that of Bonds during the 90′s. Building on that, the iPad features a beefy 1GHz. processor, 802.11n Wi-Fi, 9.7″ display, 10+ hour battery, and media features galore.
Price-wise, it’s shockingly reasonable. Speculation rumored prices upward of $1000 however the iPad gets its foot in the door at a tolerable $499 with 16 gb. flash memory and no 3G access. Below is an image detailing the price points for each capacity.
3G you ask? Well, of course its backed by AT&T, and Apple has went with non-contractual month-to-month fees as a means for charging for anywhere access. 250MB. of bandwidth will cost you $15 a month, and unlimited runs $30 per month. For relativity’s sake, applications on average are between 1-10 megabytes, albums vary between 60-80 megabytes, and videos can exceed 700+.
The iPad runs a beefed up version of the iPhone and Touch OS making interoperability a breeze for those who have used either at any point. Any application that would run on an iPhone will run on the iPad. There was a demo of the Facebook app running on the iPad at the smaller resolution resulting in this weird, miss-scaled experience. However given the nature of Apple’s secrecy and inclusion of third parties in the past, they probably kept developers out of the loop in order to preserve the confidentiality of the device.
F
urthermore, Jobs’ also stated that developers will be given a new SDK (software development kit) that enables them to build applications for both the iPhone and iPad. What that means in laymans, is that when developers create an application, they can in turn make it for two devices, handhelds, and the heralded iPad. Again, without straying off on a publishing tangent, that means magazines, newspapers, and books finally have a next-gen way of being published, without the backlash and waste of print.
Confused and clinging on to your magazines and newspapers for dear life? NYTimes unveiled their prospective take at next-gen syndication’s during the keynote. Included within the digital release are in-line videos, interactive ads, and gorgeous functionality. In short, it’s absolutely beautiful. Below are some screens of the NYTimes iPad application.
In addition to the iPad announcement, Apple also unveiled their newly christened bookstore appropriately titled, the iBook store. Initially titles will be available from a slew of big-hitter publishers. To name a few, Penguin, Macmillion, Simon & Shuster, and HarperCollins. Below are some screens of the iBook store. It’s hard to tell whether extenuated reading will be as ergonomic as it is on e-ink displays, but we’re willing to bet it’s damn close.
Now onto input and data entry, if you’re wondering how comfortable typing on a flat screen would be, you’re not alone. However, Steve affirmed that typing on the unit is a dream, an on-screen keyboard pops up when needed making for a great on-the-go way of perusing the web and composing messages. Brace yourselves, this next part is where it gets interesting.
Apple has also went lengths to revamp their office productivity suite iWork. Their suite contains Pages (Word equivalent), Numbers (Excel equivalent), and Keynote (Powerpoint equivalent), and has been completely overhauled for the iPad and each facet of the suite only costs $9.99. With ten dollar word processing, presentation, and spreadsheet applications you’re probably wondering why or how you’d even begin to “do work” on a touch-screen. That leads me to the next big feature.
In addition to on-screen input, Apple stepped outside their touchy-feely approach by unveiling a dock-able keyboard specifically for the iPad. The keyboard in-turn transforms the iPad into a fully-functional computing device. This is where you find yourself deep-seated into the Apple crafted chasm that is tablet computing.
So in essence, after you’ve done your news browsing, book reading, video watching, music listening, gaming, magazine scouring, and document crafting all in one device? What next? Nothing, and that’s exactly the niche Apple appears to be shooting to fill, mainstream consumers, and then some.
It truly takes visionaries to see the potential in tablet computing, and it truly takes visionaries to even take on the monumental task of defining it. Whether or not you see the iPad as the next step in computing and publishing, or simply a monumental iFlop, we ask you one thing, open your mind. The potential is there, whether it catches on, is up to us.
Below is a gallery highlighting some of the unspoken assumed features, gaming, live-video, application usage, and the like. Also failed to mention the Brushes application, which in essence is touchscreen paint done right. Big win. All watermarked images taken from their respective sites.
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