Today was the day all tech heads and Apple fan boys/girls had been waiting for. The rumored Apple iPad was officially announced and we must say it does live up to the hype.
You have probably been inundated with information on the iPad so we’ll stick to the basics.
Price: Starts at $499 for 16gb, $599 for 32gb and, $699 for 64gb (additional $130 bucks more for 3G)
Availability: Wi-fi iPad will hit stores worldwide 60 days from today with the 3G models to follow 90 days from today.
Service: $14.99 per month for 250MB per month and $29.99 per month for unlimited (which is really probably 5GB Unlimited).
Battery Life: Built-in 25Whr rechargeable lithium-polymer battery. Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music.
Display: 9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology. 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi).
Processor: 1GHz Apple A4 custom-designed, high-performance, low-power system-on-a-chip
The entry level price is great compared to competing netbooks or E-readers. We are somewhat disappointed that it is working on the current iPhone OS which prevents multitasking and there is no built in camera so that means no Skype video chat (though you can buy a camera and attach it to the USB port).
The iBook store/function is going to destroy all the ebook readers on the market. Reading books in color with back lighting is something that clearly separates the iPad from the Kindle and wannabe Kindles.
The functionality of being able to read newspapers alone might save the print newspaper industry.
Overall Steve Jobs said that this is the most advanced technology that Apple has ever introduced and though it is essentially a big ass iPod Touch on many levels we’d have to agree that he is right.
Hit the jump for more pics. 
Loading... 
It’s what the games been missing. For real. For media professionals, its like Neo from the matrix. Its our last chance before the machines take over. Lately its been us against the machines (trashy celebrity sites, shoddy journalism blogs, stupidly low payrates, etc) and the machines have been winning in a blowout. Now people will be forced to pay for media outlets like everything else.
Comment by Khalid Salaam on January 27, 2010 at 5:08 pm
Hmmm I’m thinking about it but I think I still may wait until the 2nd or 3rd version emerges.
Comment by Andrea on January 28, 2010 at 9:19 am