Apple introduces the iPad tablet

Robert Hallock 27 Jan, 2010 at 2:42pm ET Article published in Tech

Putting years of rumors and speculation to rest, Apple today introduced a tablet computer at special event held at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater.

Hardware

Dubbed the iPad, Apple’s new tablet device measures 9.7″, closely resembles an enlarged iPhone, and features the following specifications:

1024×768 9.7″ (132ppi) IPS LCD
720p H.264 video support
1.5 lbs (1.6 lbs with 3G)
0.5″ thick
9.56″x7.47″
16-64GB flash storage
1GHz Apple A4 CPU (likely ARM-based)
802.11a/b/g/n
AGPS
Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
Accelerometer
Compass
30-pin dock connector
“10 hours” of active battery life
USB syncing just like iPhone/iPod (Photos, music, movies, TV shows, contacts, calendars, bookmarks and applications)
External keyboard, dock, projector and other peripheral support via dock connector

There is no word on the amount of memory or the specifics of the CPU, but judging by the application support and the performance of the latter, we can only assume that it’s something very similar to the ARM Cortex-A9 CPU. It is one of the few ARM-based architectures capable of decoding HD video.

The chip itself was undoubtedly designed with the assistance of engineers from P.A. Semi, a chip-designing firm Apple obtained some time ago for an undisclosed purpose.

Software

Moving on to software, often regarded as the soul of Apple devices, Apple has developed many new features designed specifically to cater to the form factor and usage patterns of a tablet device. These features include:

Support for all current iPhone apps, but they must run at their default resolution or get upscaled (which looks somewhat ugly).
iBooks: an e-reader application that supports ePub-formatted book downloads directly to the device; page turning is dictated by the speed of the user’s touch.
YouTube and YouTube HD support
Onboard iTunes store: download all iTunes movies, shows and music directly to the device. No intermediary or syncing.
A WebKit-based browser: Delivers desktop-quality browsing, but there does not appear to be Flash support.
A tablet-formatted calendar application.
Integrated mapping support via Google Maps.
An on-screen keyboard that closely resembles your standard Mac keyboard.
An integrated contact list that closely resembles a leather-bound contact folio.
A tablet-formatted email client.
Tablet-optimized iPhoto-like client, complete with slideshows and Places support.
A rejiggered version of iWork with a UI designed specifically for the tablet. It will cost $9.99, along with apps like Pages and Keynote.
A sour point: No multitasking. If you want to switch apps, you have to close what you’re doing, open the new app, complete the task, then reopen the old application.

Pricing and availability

As has been rumored, the iPad does indeed offer WWAN connectivity on select models. It is not Verizon. Once again, Apple has called upon AT&T’s network to provide data access. The iPad ships unlocked and uses GSM Micro SIM cards, meaning it can get 3G on any carrier which supports 850/1900/2100MHz UMTS, or 2G on any GSM carrier which offers 850/900/1900/2100MHz GPRS/EDGE.

$14.99 for 250MB of data
$29.99 for unlimited data
No contract

But the biggest price people want to know is the MSRP of the device:

16GB+WiFi: $499
32GB+WiFi: $599
64GB+WiFi: $699
16GB+WiFi+3G: $629
32GB+WiFi+3G: $729
64GB+WiFi+3G: $829

WiFi models will be available in 60 days (March 27), while WiFi+3G models will be available in 90 days (April 27).

Comments

27 Jan 2010 ~ 2:51pm Garg No multitasking? That's ridiculous. Otherwise, it'd actually be kind of nice (this coming from someone who's never owned an Apple product).
27 Jan 2010 ~ 2:55pm William No multitasking, no flash, no real OS, no front camera for video conf, AND tied to ATT's miserable network? This is the biggest flop Apple has ever done. It's a giant iphone, nothing else!
27 Jan 2010 ~ 2:58pm BuddyJ Do not want. The talking heads are claiming the Kindle is dead. How can it be dead when this costs 2x as much and has a rip-off data plan associated with it?
27 Jan 2010 ~ 3:01pm Garg There are a lot of little things that don't make sense. For instance, it looks like the only way to hook up a USB camera or SD card is through a dock adapter, which I don't believe you can use when the keyboard's plugged in (to the dock). Even without worrying about the keyboard, the ergonomics of using it in portrait mode with an adapter plugged into the bottom are funky. How hard would it have been to include a USB port or SD card slot?

For the price they're asking, they could have resolved those minor quibbles and found a way to enable multitasking.
27 Jan 2010 ~ 3:02pm Snarkasm I feel this needs a porolololrololrolol
27 Jan 2010 ~ 3:03pm Garg I would much rather have one of these.
27 Jan 2010 ~ 3:05pm Cliff_Forster I wonder if they have a version perfect for light days?
27 Jan 2010 ~ 3:06pm Snarkasm This is the version for light days. Do you know any heavy-flow users that could tolerate the specs this thing is pumping?
27 Jan 2010 ~ 3:15pm Zuntar I knew it wouldn't take long once I saw it article,LOL!! You people are great...Period!
27 Jan 2010 ~ 3:41pm Colgere No multitasking? Pfft, no thanks. Maybe it should have been named the iBad.....
27 Jan 2010 ~ 3:43pm jared Netbook is a better (and cheaper) portable machine and the Kindle/nook is a better e-reader.

I think with the 'iPhone' 4.0 OS which i suspect will come this summer, we might finally see background apps. At which point I would possibly take another look.
27 Jan 2010 ~ 4:11pm Zanthian The image on this article sums up what I thought while watching the gizmodo live blog. I will add myself to the do not want list.
27 Jan 2010 ~ 4:30pm mirage IPad is just a typo. I will wait for ASUS with Tegra 2.
27 Jan 2010 ~ 5:25pm mas0n People saying this will kill the Kindle have probably never used one. This is everything you DON'T want in an eReader for twice the cost and a fraction of the battery life.
27 Jan 2010 ~ 5:35pm Meme Apple finally found its period.
27 Jan 2010 ~ 5:41pm Leonardo Just curious, as I've not read up on any of the 'reader' gadgets. Do the other readers, like Amazon's, have newspaper reader features? I noticed that the Ipad (i-Pad, whatever) has a NY Times subscription available.

This, to me, seems to be something that could be useful for someone who spends a lot of time in a train, or someone who has a lot of idle time to kill in cafes, those that won't kick you out if you aren't buying. Neither one of those categories apply to me, so I'll continue to march on with my desktop and laptop computers. I feel so depressed that I'm not fashionable. Oh, I forget - I have an older generation blackberry that I turn on a couple times a week to check the voicemail box and text messages.

Seriously, my old-fashioned self can't really wrap my hands around what/when you would use such a tablet. I do though, wish Apple well, if they are filling a market niche (a niche for which I am not worthy to enter). The gadget is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it...or so someone might say. Sorry, I see something like that (any manufacturer) and think, well, for $125, it might be a cool gadget to play with awhile, then give to my daughter or hawk on Craigslist.
27 Jan 2010 ~ 5:57pm BuddyJ Yep, other "true" readers have subscription services for papers of record and business publications. Pretty much any paper of note (The Times, WSJ, NY Times, Washington Post etc.) already have content available. And, you don't have to swing for an additional data plan with those readers.
27 Jan 2010 ~ 5:57pm chrisWhite I like it, I'm disappointed that there was no mention of multiple processes and no Flash but the former can be rectified with a quick Jailbreak and the latter I hope we'll see taken up by the Jailbreak community. Otherwise it's pretty much exactly what I wanted minus the cameras I had hoped for. That said, it looks nice, I think it will sell well, but I'm not going to go nuts over and I certainly don't see picking one up right off the bat and I sure as hell won't be waiting at the Applestore overnight.

No, for me the biggest disappointed was that there weren't updates to the iPhone nor update to the desktop versions of iWork and iLife. I had really hoped we'd see a new version of iWork that would include modern versions of Mail.app, iCal and Address Book, the ones that come with OS X are getting horribly outdated.

In the end, iPad looks cool, I'm very glad we can get the damn rumors and speculation posts out of the way and if nothing else, that is a huge win for any of us that read tech news.
27 Jan 2010 ~ 6:15pm ardichoke Of course you like it chris, you like anything Apple

The best thing to come out of this is the iTampon trend on twitter.
27 Jan 2010 ~ 6:33pm Sledgehammer70 Fixed

chrisWhite wrote:

In the end, iPad looks cool, but is a device that is not on par with current gen devices and it is x2 the price. GG Apple sell us old tech & call it new!
27 Jan 2010 ~ 6:59pm chrisWhite

ardichoke wrote:

Of course you like it chris, you like anything Apple

Hardly, I've posted decidedly more criticism of Apple on Icrontic then I have fanboy praise, I get labeled a fanboy here because I don't automatically dislike everything Apple does.
27 Jan 2010 ~ 7:05pm ardichoke How come everyone takes me so seriously all the time? WINKEY FACE MAN!!!!! WIIINNKEEEYYYY FAAAACCCEEEE
27 Jan 2010 ~ 7:10pm chrisWhite lol, no it's just a common accusation around here, it's in my damn staff bio after all
30 Jan 2010 ~ 10:06am Snarkasm "Similar pricing" meaning "minimum twice as expensive."
30 Jan 2010 ~ 2:31pm chrisWhite It will effect the Kindle market certainly, though I do think the Kindle will hold it's own much better then most people are claiming. However, you have to remember that Amazon isn't just in the hardware industry for the Kindle, they're in the content delivery business too. There's already a Kindle app on the iPhone, I would expect that it will be on the iPad too, and it's also on Windows, coming to OS X and I think it's on the Android as well (anyone confirm?). The Kindle could die today and Amazon would still be able to make money on the brand, especially if they can offer content that Apple won't be able to on iBooks.
30 Jan 2010 ~ 3:33pm ardichoke I expect the nook to cut into Kindle sales more than the iPad. I'm surprised Apple approved the Kindle app for iPhone given that it "duplicates functionality". Heck, I half expect them to pull the app now that they are releasing the iPad... make sure there's no competition for the iTunes store on it.
30 Jan 2010 ~ 11:24pm chrisWhite I'd like to see them do that now, after the whole Google Voice issue I don't think the courts would look kindly on that action.

The Nook looks so awesome but outside of IC I haven't picked up any buzz about it, they really need to push their marketing more.
31 Jan 2010 ~ 7:00am Snarkasm They can't push up the marketing until they can even meet the initial demand. Some people who ordered when it was first announced still haven't gotten theirs, from what I understand.
31 Jan 2010 ~ 8:16am GnomeWizardd he said it would be 60 days
31 Jan 2010 ~ 8:28am Snarkasm I was talking about the Nook, not the iPad.
31 Jan 2010 ~ 2:20pm ardichoke B&N seems to have been pretty good about letting people know that they weren't going to ship for a while. Even now the nook site says it won't ship til Feb 12. I think there was more initial demand than they expected, I know I plan to buy one once they are back in stock.