Apple Launches The iPad To Redefine Mobile Computing

Apple has finally launched their tablet device and it is called the iPad. It has probably been the most anticipated consumer electronic device ever since color television! I am actually not exaggerating. We have been talking about this for years now and it is finally here! This is a 9.7 ” tablet device that is running the iPhone OS. It actually looks like a large iPhone but it handles very differently than an iPhone.

The hardware is very powerful – a 1GHz processor made by Apple (Apple A4) powers this device. There are 3×2 models. 3 models with only WiFi and 3 models with both WiFi+3G. The division is based on storage: 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. It has Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR, Compass, Accelerometer and AGPS. Battery life is 10 hours and stand by is one month!

That last one is only to be found on the WiFi+3G. That’s mainly because Assisted GPS needs the mobile towers to ‘assist’ in GPS location. And probably because the 3G chip comes with the GPS on it.

Apple is going to ship the WiFi only models in 60 days and the WiFi+3G in 90 days from now. That has broken a lot of hearts but not as many as broken by the announcement of a massive delay in International units. International iPad units will be available around June to July. They of course have to strike deals with international content publishers. Also carriers.

But the best thing is that the iPad is going to be completely unlocked and even though you can sign a contract with AT&T for special plans, you can leave any time. Apple has managed to get you a fantastic deal with AT&T.

There’s a plan that gives you 250MB monthly for $14.99 per month. But that is not the deal I am talking about. If you buy the iPad, you can sign up for unlimited data usage on the iPad on AT&T for only $30 per month! I hope AT&T’s network can take this! But then you can leave at any time and get on to another carrier.

And all of this starts from $499 and goes up to $829! That is as killer a price as ever!

Apple also announced a new iWork that will work on the iPad and it looked great. This also meant that this can be used for content creation and not just consumption. Steve also talked about eBooks but it was only one segment. It has a dedicated app called iBooks and an eBook store called iBookStore. There is a keyboard dock available for the iPad that will simply clinch the deal for writers and bloggers out there. It did so for this blogger!

Over all, this is a completely new segment in devices and that will really become clearer as it is launched and more time goes by after that.

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