Not a Netbook and not a Tablet, Apple has made their own new device. I would agree with those that liken it to an iPhone/iPod Touch on steroids. I’ve seen many complaints about this already in that it isn’t a full fledged computer, but this device isn’t meant to be. However, I can see many scenarios where the device can be handy. I personally use my current laptop most of the time for basic surfing on the internet, email, facebook, remote login of computers, etc. I can still do all of those with the iPad as I have apps on my iPhone that cover all of those areas. This would also be great to throw into your suitcase on a vacation to do some browsing on the hotel wireless without having to lug around a laptop.
It has some pretty cool specs in a small casing. All of which can be read here. The most notable is the fact that it is now using an Apple A4 1GHZ processor. This is the first processor that Apple has come out with since buying out a processor manufacturing company. It is supposedly low powered enough to get 30 days of standby time and 10 hours of video playback. That is pretty impressive. It makes me wonder if the next iPhone will have a simular chip. I do not expect an iPhone to get that much power as the iPad because of a smaller battery, but it would be nice to get at least 2-3 days on standby and more talk time.
One limitation that people are complaining about already, is the ability to run multiple applications at the same time. I personally think that this could change by the time the iPad starts shipping in 60 days. I think this event was to show off the hardware and give an idea of what it can do. I think within that 60 day time frame we’ll see another announcement like this that will focus on iPhone OS 4.0. At that announcement multitasking could be announced as a new feature for the iPad and even the iPhone. It is right now a limitation of the OS and not the hardware. This is just my speculation.
Another speculation I have from this about iPhone OS 4.0, is that the iPad allows you to choose your own wallpaper for the home screen. I could see this also coming for the iPhone as I know it is a requested feature that jailbreakers always like to show off.
The pricing is also much better than I thought it would be. I had heard rumors of $600 and I thought they might start there, but other rumors even said $1000. The wifi models are available for $499, $599, and $699. For people who also want the ability to use a 3G network connection they can pay $30 more on those prices and get a version that allows you to pop in a sim card and get a data plan from a GSM carrier. (AT&T and T-Mobile in the U.S.)
The video of the event will be posted on Apple’s website later today, and I’ll post a link here.
All the text and some photos of the event can be viewed here at the link I posted earlier
I think it looks like a great product that will probably do well for Apple. I don’t think I need one as of now, but that might change when I finally get one in my hands. 😀