Is this the Apple tablet? (update: new images)

Okay, we obviously can't confirm this, but we just got two very interesting images of what certainly looks like a prototype Apple IPAD tablet, or what could be the tablet bolted down to a table. It's big -- really big -- and it's running what clearly looks like an iPhone app, although we've never seen an iPhone app with that interface or at that resolution before. We also see a WiFi icon and a cell service indicator, although tragically there's no carrier listed. As far as fakes go, this is as convincing as it gets, so either this is the real deal or someone deserves a hearty congratulations.

On a totally separate note, we also received a tip claiming to have some specs -- we can't verify any of this either, but we're told that the device will have a 10-inch screen and look like a larger iPhone with a MacBook-like aluminum back, and that pricing will run $800 on contract with Verizon and $1000 without when it arrives in March. We're also told that the official name remains a secret and that Apple employees are still calling it by the codename of "K48" -- a name we last heard in May from the same source that pegged the iPhone 3GS exactly. This source also tells us that the iPhone will be coming to Verizon as well and that we'll see iLife '10 tomorrow, but there won't be any MacBook updates. A relatively safe set of predictions -- which is why we sort of believe them.

Accessory makers, app developers eye Apple's iPad

Accessory makers, app developers eye Apple's iPad

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The iPad may still be weeks away from launch, but the companies that feed off the popularity of Apple Inc's products are already hard at work prepping for the new tablet.

The roughly 300 million iPods and iPhones sold over the past decade have given rise to a lucrative market for companies peddling a wide variety of accessories, including cases, adapters and docks.

These accessory makers have high hopes for the iPad, Apple's first major new product in three years, banking that it will become a blockbuster to help stimulate plateauing sales.

At the same time, thousands of application developers -- some large and some startups -- are looking to the iPad as a way to extend the reach of their games or services. Game publishers from Electronic Arts Inc to "Tap Tap Revenge" creator Tapulous have had good success selling games on the iPhone.
"The iPad market has huge potential," said Jamie Elgie, a product management director at accessory company Belkin International. "We think it has the potential to be game-changing and we need to be on top of it."

This week's Macworld Expo in San Francisco will attract thousands of Apple users and provide a showcase for third-party vendors for all of the company's products.

The 10-inch, touchscreen iPad has been the talk of the technology world since it was announced last month, and will likely be the center of attention at Macworld.

But because the iPad is a new category of device -- lodged between a smartphone and a laptop -- its form will present a unique challenge for highly competitive accessory makers.

Belkin and Griffin Technology, two top accessory companies, wasted little time in getting iPad sleeves up for sale up on the Web. Both say speed to market is important, given the low barriers to entry, and neither would divulge product plans.

The privately held companies say designing for the iPad will be tricky -- and neither will get a head start. They will not get hold of the device until consumers do, on launch day.

Apple itself will have some iPad accessories ready at launch in late March, including a $69 keyboard dock.

Mark Rowan, president of Griffin, said the iPad would be great, but exactly how consumers would use it was unclear. "It will be a travel device, it could also be a home device, a family entertainment device."

Nashville, Tennessee-based Griffin makes the iTrip FM transmitter, among many other accessories.

Los Angeles-based Belkin, which makes iPod add-ons such as TuneBase, has annual sales that top $1 billion and roughly 1,400 employees. It holds more than 25 iPod and iPhone accessory patents.

The MP3 accessory market totaled $1.3 billion in the United States alone in 2009, according to NPD, although those in the industry say that estimate only captures a slice of the actual total, as it does not include retailers like Wal-Mart.

APPS

Macworld will have a special section dedicated just to apps, which Apple hopes will prove as popular on the iPad as they have been on the iPhone. There are more than 140,000 iPhone apps available, and almost all of them will work on the iPad. The devices share an operating system.

The iPad and its larger screen will provide a bigger canvas for apps, and many companies will overhaul their existing iPhone apps to look and run better on the iPad.

Brian Meehan, head of product development at software company and app developer Sourcebits, said the company has created a dedicated team of 80 developers to craft apps for the iPad. The company is based in Bangalore, India.

Sourcebits, which has developed apps for companies such as Coca-Cola and General Electric, saw its first iPad app inquiries arrive even before the formal launch.

"We're working around the clock right now to handle the demand from our existing client base, and then on top of that, new clients are coming in to see what they can create around the iPad."

Games, which are already hugely popular on the iPhone, would seem to be one of the most obvious uses for the iPad.

The French mobile gaming company Gameloft has around 60 games available for the iPhone, which generate roughly 13 percent of its revenue.

Michel Guillemot, Gameloft's chief executive, said after the iPad launch that it will decide on a game-by-game basis which iPhone games it will redo for the iPad.

"It's difficult to say what will happen. I think this device is going to bring a lot of user satisfaction, and what comes with user satisfaction is revenue."

Macworld organizers acknowledge it will have a different feel this year, with no headline-making presentation from Steve Jobs and no major product launches. Apple announced last year it would no longer exhibit or keynote at the show.

Apple iPad 3G service plans on AT&T, $30 for unlimited data

 

In a direct blow to everyone else with a netbook and an unlimited data plan, AT&T has scored a deal to offer unlimited 3G data on 3G-capable versions of the iPad Best Price for $29.99 a month (then again, this is the same as an iPhone plan, and you're getting iPhone-level capability here).

A 250MB plan, meanwhile, will be available for half that at $14.99 a month. Activation can happen right on the device -- no store visits or calls are necessary -- and there's no contract involved. The device is fully unlocked, so if you absolutely want to, you're welcome to take it to any other GSM carrier of your choice (assuming you can find a SIM that works -- Apple's talking up a new "micro SIM" for it). International users, stay tuned: Apple expects to have deals in place for you by June of this year.

The Apple iPad Best Price: starting at $499

 

 After nearly a decade of rumors and speculation, Apple's finally unveiled the IPad best price. It's a half-inch thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds, with a 9.7-inch capacitive touchscreen IPS LCD display, and it's running a custom 1GHz Apple "A4" chip developed by the P.A. Semi team, with a 10-hour battery life and a month of standby. It'll come in 16, 32, and 64GB sizes, and it's got the expected connectivity: very little. There's a 30-pin Dock connector, a speaker, a microphone, Bluetooth, 802.11n WiFi and optional 3G, as well as an accelerometer and a compass. There's also a keyboard dock, which connects underneath in the portrait orientation, support for up to 1024x768 VGA out and 480p composite out through new dock adapter cables, and a camera attachment kit that lets you import photos from your camera over USB or directly through an SD reader.

The device is managed by iTunes, just like the iPhone -- you sync everything over to your Mac. As expected, it can run iPhone apps -- either pixel-for-pixel in a window, or pixel-doubled fullscreen -- but developers can also target the new screen size using the updated iPhone OS SDK, which is available today. The 3G version runs on AT&T and comes with new data plans: 250MB for $14.99 and an unlimited plan for $29.99 a month contract-free. Activations are handled on the iPad, so you can activate and cancel whenever you want. Every iPad is unlocked and comes with a GSM "micro-SIM," so you can use it abroad, but there aren't any international deals in place right now -- Steve says they'll be back "this summer" with news on that front.

It starts IPad Best Prie at $499 for 16GB, 32GB for $599, and $699 64GB. Adding 3G costs a $130 per model, so the most expensive model (64GB / 3G) is $829. The WiFi-only model will ship in 60 days, and the 3G models will come in 90.

IPad E-Book Reader Best Price

IPad E-Book Reader Best Price

You will be able to ipad read ebooks on Apple's new iPad. During his keynote presentation on Wednesday, Steve Jobs touted Apple's new iPad as a great device for reading ebooks. He complimented Amazon.com's Kindle and said they are going to "stand on their shoulders" with the iPad. The iPad comes with an iBooks app that displays your available books in a virtual bookshelf. Like other ebook readers, the iPad will offer access to a digital bookstore. Apple says the iPad provides a "high-resolution, LED-backlit screen displays everything in sharp, rich color, so it's easy to read, even in low light.

IPad Review (3)

All of the built-in apps on iPad were designed from the ground up to take advantage of the large Multi-Touch screen. And they work in any orientation. So you can do things with these apps that you can’t do on any other device.

Contacts

The Contacts app on iPad makes finding names, numbers, and other important information quicker and easier than ever before. A new view lets you see both your complete contacts list and a single contact simultaneously. Need directions? Tap an address inside a contact and iPad automatically opens Maps.

Home Screen

The Home screen gives you one-tap access to everything on iPad. You can customize your Home screen by adding your favorite apps and websites or using your own photos as the background. And you can move apps around to arrange them in any order you want.

Spotlight Search

Spotlight Search allows you to search across iPad and all of its built-in apps, including Mail, Contacts, Calendar, iPod, and Notes. It even searches apps you’ve downloaded from the App Store. So no matter what you’re looking for, it’s never more than a few taps away.

Accessibility

iPad comes with a screen reader, support for playback of closed-captioned content, and other innovative universal access features — right out of the box. There’s no additional software to buy or install. These features make iPad easier to use for people who have a vision impairment, are deaf or hard of hearing, or have a physical or learning disability.

IPad Review (2)

All of the built-in apps on iPad were designed from the ground up to take advantage of the large Multi-Touch screen. And they work in any orientation. So you can do things with these apps that you can’t do on any other device. 

IPod

 

With the iPod app, all your music is literally at your fingertips. Browse by album, song, artist, or genre with a simple flick. To play a song, just tap it. iPad even displays album art at full size. Listen to your music with the powerful built-in speaker or with wired or Bluetooth wireless headphones.

ITunes

A tap of the iTunes icon lets you browse and buy music, TV shows, and podcasts — or buy and rent movies — wirelessly, right from your iPad. Choose from thousands of movies and TV shows (in both standard and high definition), along with thousands of podcasts and millions of songs. Preview songs before you buy them. Or just sync iPad with the content you already have in your iTunes library on your Mac or PC.

App Store

iPad runs almost 140,000 apps from the App Store. Everything from games to business apps and more. And new apps designed specifically for iPad are highlighted, so you can easily find the ones that take full advantage of its features. Just tap the App Store icon on the screen to browse, buy, and download apps wirelessly, right to the iPad.

iBooks

The iBooks app is a great new way to read and buy books.¹ Download the free app from the App Store and buy everything from classics to best sellers from the built-in iBookstore. Once you’ve bought a book, it’s displayed on your Bookshelf. Just tap it to start reading. The high-resolution, LED-backlit screen displays everything in sharp, rich color, so it’s easy to read, even in low light.

Maps

Finding your way is a completely new experience on iPad. Tap to view maps from above with high-resolution satellite imagery, up close with street view, or with topography in a new terrain view — all using Google Services. Search for a nearby restaurant or landmark, then get directions from your current location.

Notes

With its expansive display and large, onscreen keyboard, iPad makes jotting down notes easy. In landscape view, you see not only a note-taking page but a list of all your notes. iPad even circles the current note in red, so you can see where you are at a glance.

Calendar

iPad makes it easy to stay on schedule by displaying day, week, month, or list views of your calendar. You can see an overview of a whole month or the details of a single day. iPad even shows multiple calendars at once, so you can manage work and family schedules at the same time.

IPad Review (1)

All of the built-in apps on iPad were designed from the ground up to take advantage of the large Multi-Touch screen. And they work in any orientation. So you can do things with these apps that you can’t do on any other device.

Safari

The large Multi-Touch screen on iPad lets you see web pages as they were meant to be seen — one page at a time. With vibrant color and sharp text. So whether you’re looking at a page in portrait or landscape, you can see everything at a size that’s actually readable. And with iPad, navigating the web has never been easier or more intuitive. Because you use the most natural pointing device there is: your finger. Scroll through a page just by flicking your finger up or down on the screen. Or pinch to zoom in or out on a photo. There’s also a thumbnail view that shows all your open pages in a grid, to let you quickly move from one page to the next.

Mail

See and touch your email in ways you never could before. In landscape, you get a split-screen view showing both an opened email and the messages in your inbox. To see the opened email by itself, turn iPad to portrait, and the email automatically rotates and fills the screen. No matter which orientation you use, you can scroll through your mail, compose a new email using the large, onscreen keyboard, or delete messages with nothing more than a tap and a flick. If someone emails you a photo, you can see it right in the message. You can also save the photos in an email directly to the built-in Photos app. And iPad works with all the most popular email providers, including MobileMe, Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, Hotmail, and AOL.

Photos

With its crisp, vibrant display and unique software features, iPad is an extraordinary way to enjoy and share your photos. For example, the Photos app displays the photos in an album as though they were in a stack. Just tap the stack, and the whole album opens up. From there, you can flip through your pictures, zoom in or out, or watch a slideshow. You can even use your iPad as a beautiful digital photo frame while it’s docked or charging. And there are lots of ways to import photos: You can sync them from your computer, download them from an email, or import them directly from your camera using the optional Camera Connection Kit.

Video

The large, high-resolution screen makes iPad perfect for watching any kind of video: from HD movies and TV shows to podcasts and music videos. Switch between widescreen and full screen with a double-tap. Because iPad is essentially one big screen, with no distracting keypad or buttons, you feel completely immersed in whatever you’re watching.

YouTube

 

The YouTube app organizes videos so they’re easy to see and navigate. To watch one, just tap it. When you’re watching in landscape, the video automatically plays in full screen. And with its high-resolution display, iPad makes the latest HD YouTube videos look positively amazing.

Photo IPad and Design

 IPad 

LED-Backlit IPS Display

Multi-Touch

  Thin and Light

Up to 10 Hours  Battery Life

Wireless 3G 

Performance

Connectivity

Accessories

 

About

All of the built-in apps on iPad were designed from the ground up to take advantage of the large Multi-Touch screen. And they work in any orientation. So you can do things with these apps that you can’t do on any other device.

Netbooks Versus iPads.

Though Apple encouraged the comparison by specifically attacking netbooks as mediocre versions of old PCs, we consider the Netbook versus iPad “fight” to be essentially irrelevant, and focusing on tech specs to justify one position or the other is foolish. Anyone who has used a netbook knows that there are certain things that these computers can do really well with their small form factors, and other things that they almost universally stink at doing. The same is true with the iPad. Drawing a comparison between these products on anything other than price and the most basic features is a waste of time.


To be clear: the iPad in its current form is going to be a basic computer for users who favor simplicity and convenience over raw power. It is going to appeal a lot to kids and grandparents, but it’s also going to become a second or “around the house” computer for adults, and over time, it or something like it will be what retailers, delivery people, restaurant servers, and all sorts of other people literally rely upon for entering and displaying certain types of information. Netbooks and laptops will continue to have their own advantages, but they’re not going to be as intuitive and simple as the iPad.

What About The iPad Name

There was a lot of fuss over the iPad name after the announcement, and we saw evidence of a gender divide, so we decided to run a reader poll to see who did and didn’t like the name, and whether it would affect purchasing decisions.



With over 3,500 votes far more than enough for a fair sample exactly 50% of responding readers said they liked the iPad name, and 50% said that they didn’t. There was a gender divide, such that men split 52/48% between “like” and “don’t like,” and women split 34% (like) to 66% (dislike), but more importantly, 62% of respondents said that they’d consider buying the iPad, with more readers of both genders saying that they’d consider a purchase even if they didn’t like the name. In any case, the iPad name is nowhere near as wacky as Nintendo’s choice of “Wii,” and the controversy largely died down after two or three days. People, even Twitterers, will get used to it quickly.