CEO launches ‘best browsing experience’ ever
Glenn Johnson And Kim Covert
Province
Apple Inc. chief executive officer Steve Jobs holds the much-hyped and rumour-laden iPad during the launch of the company’s new tablet-computing device in San Francisco on Wednesday. Photograph by: Reuters, Canwest News Service
A video game is displayed on Apple’s iPad with a view of its keyboard mode. Photograph by: Kimberly White, Reuters, Canwest News Service
It looks like an oversized iPhone, and Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs is betting the world will be excited about the much-hyped and rumour-laden iPad tablet computer.
In introducing the new electronic gadget Wednesday, Jobs held up the touch-screen device, which is a little smaller than a magazine. “And we call it the iPad,” he told his San Francisco audience.
“It is the best browsing experience you’ve ever had,” Jobs said in front of a giant screen showing the new product.
The icons are like those on the iPhone, complete with a tray at the bottom, and the iPad runs on the iPhone’s operating system. Jobs spent some time showing off some of the iPad’s features, including email and web browsing. It will ship with iTunes installed.
It has a 25-centimetre display that can show full web pages and has an onscreen QWERTY keyboard that is almost full-sized.
“It’s half-an-inch [1.3 centimetres] thin and weighs just 1.5 pounds [680 grams],” Jobs said.
It’s powered by a 1GHz Apple A4 chip, has 16GB to 64GB of flash storage and claims 10 hours of battery life with over a month of standby power.
Taking advantage of the more than 140,000 applications already available for iPhones and iPod Touch devices, the iPad will be able to run any application in Apple’s App Store unmodified. To date, more than three billion apps have been downloaded for iPhone and iPod Touch devices.
The iPad is “our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price,” Jobs said. The iPad will start at $499 US for the 16GB version. A 32GB model will cost $599 and a 64 GB model $799.
Versions of the iPad with built in 3G connectivity will cost an extra $130, ranging in price from $629 to $829.
“Because they’ve shipped 75 million iPhones and iPod touches, there’s 75 million people who already know how to use the iPad.”
While every iPad will come with WiFi technology, only some will be able to access next generation or 3G cellphone networks.
Jobs said the company hopes to have Wi-Fi models available within 60 days, and 3G models in 90. An international carrier arrangement will be announced in the June or July time frame, raising the possibility that the iPad could arrive in Canada this summer.
Video-game maker Electronic Arts also debuted games designed for the iPad, while Major League Baseball showed off how it plans to use the iPad to enhance its own digital offerings.
Apple also unveiled a new online book store, iBooks, which will allow readers to download digital e-books to their iPad similar to the way users of Amazon.comInc.’s Kindle device can download books over next-generation cellphone networks.
A note on the Apple iPad features page acknowledges that so far the iBook store is only available in the U.S.
In a move designed to position the iPad as a device for business users, Apple also showcased a new version of its iWork productivity software designed for the new device.
Jobs said the iPad will sync with a computer over a USB connection just like an iPod or iPhone.
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