Apple Unveiled Tablet PC – iPad $499up!

Apple Inc. today unveiled its long-rumored tablet, the iPad, not the name gussed by many bloggers such as iTablet or iSlate.

Chief executive Steve Jobs, addressing a packed crowd of technology journalists and bloggers. referred to the device as something in the “middle” — residing in a “third category,” between high-powered personal computers and smart phones.

The iPad has a 9.7-inch multitouch display (measured diagonally; a page of InvestmentNews measures 18 inches for comparison), weighs just a pound and a half, and is pretty thin at just half an inch. That’s lighter than any netbook I can think of and certainly any full-fledged tablet PC.

A 1-gigahertz Apple A4 processor will power the iPad. It will come in 16- gigabyte, 32-GB and 64-GB models. The table will have several means of connectivity, including built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 in both the base model and the high-end model. The iPad’s average battery life is expected to be 10 hours.

Oh, and like the iPhone, it will also have a built-in accelerometer, as well as a speaker and microphone.

Mr. Jobs said during the announcement that he could take a flight from San Francisco to Tokyo and watch video the whole time (side note: He must fly private jets, otherwise you’d think we would have seen some mobile phone images or video of the iPad before today).

As for cost: The low-end 16-GB model will go for $499. The high-end 64-GB model, which also boasts 3G technology, will sell for $829. There is both a touchpad keyboard that will take up half the screen when used, as well as a separate external keyboard (it is unclear what external accessories will be coming with which models in the box at purchase).

During the announcement, an Apple software representative said that iPhone and iTouch users will be able to synch their already purchased App Store applications with the iPad, meaning they won’t have to pay for them twice and that the applications themselves will all natively run on the iPad as well.

It was also announced during the presentation that these applications have already been optimized for the new device.

This means that advisers already enjoying the many financial-services-oriented applications available for the iPhone will be able to run them on the iPad as well. The device should make for lightweight travel and easy web-based presentations with clients or others.

History always seems to get lost with these grand announcements, especially when they seem to be in an-as-yet undiscovered category of computing. That probably has a lot to do with Apple’s naming this the iPad instead of the iTablet. Consumer tablet computers have been around for almost 20 years now.

Former editor-in-chief of PC Magazine Michael J. Miller wrote a great little piece documenting all the niftiest tablets that predate Apple’s announcement. Mr. Miller, who also happens to be a mentor of mine and my former boss, used to show off what these devices could do as they made their way in for review. Over the course of my eight years at the magazine, I saw dozens of them come and go. Thus it’s clear to me that Apple has built this shiny new device after long study of what has and hasn’t worked among its many predecessors.

Related posts:

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3. Apple iPad iOS 4.2 Update Coming in Nov
4. Apple iPhone iPad Now Support Flash
5. Google Chrome OS Tablet in November

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