Meet the iPad, Apple’s new tablet computer which the company says will revolutionise all manner of digital publishing.
The iPad, which has been the subject of intense interest and speculation over the past year, was launched today by Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs at a special event in San Francisco.
Jobs, still looking a lot thinner after his liver transplant last year, was brimming with superlatives about Apple's latest creation.
Dressed in his trademark jeans and black skivvy, Jobs called it a "truly revolutionary and magic product".
The multimedia, touchscreen device sports a 24.6 cm display (9.7 inches) and looks like a wider, flatter iPhone. It is 1.27 cm thick (half an inch) and weighs 700 grams (1.5 pounds).
"We wanted to put this in the hands of lots of people," Jobs said before announcing that the price in the US would be US$499 (NZ$499), for the base 16GB model. The will be six models ranging in price up to US$899 (NZ$1269).
He said Apple would begin worldwide shipping of the non-3G models in 60 days and with the 3G models in 90 days,
Jobs launched into a demonstration, showing the tablet’s varied functions.
He described it as "like having the internet in the palm of your hands".
After the introduction, the first demonstration was of game applications by Gameloft.
The New York Times was next with a demonstration of a rich and interactive version of the paper. The paper's head of digital operations Martin Nisenholtz said he was delighted to help "pioneer the next version of digital journalism".
The next demo was from Steve Sprang the creator of the popular iPhone app Brushes.
Jobs returned to the stage after handing over to demonstrations to introduce the ebook functions.
He said Amazon had done great job. “We’re going to stand on their shoulders and go a bit further,” he said.
Books can be downloaded from Apple’s new online iBooks store and read them using the new iBook apps.
He said five of the world’s leading publisher including Penguin and HarperCollins had already signed up and that more would follow.
Jobs then introduced the new iWork program, which Jobs called “really magnificent”.
iWork, which includes a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation software, has been rewritten and reconfigured to work on the iPad.
The demonstration was given by Apple’s senior vice president, Phil Schiller. He said the three programs which comprise iWork would cost US$9.99 each from the App Store.
Details:
* The device has a 10-hour battery life.
* All existing iPhone apps will run on the iPad
* Made of aluminium and glass.
* The iPad is half an inch thick.
* It weighs 700 grams (1.5 pounds)
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