Calling it “way better than a laptop, way better than a phone,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled his company’s long-awaited iPad tablet-style multi-touch device Wednesday.
The device weighs just 1.5 pounds — lighter than any netbook, Jobs noted — and sports a 9.7-inch display. It also includes a 1GHz Apple-built ARM A4 processor which includes the CPU and graphics.
“Everything is one chip, and it screams,” Jobs said.
He also touted that device gets 10 hours battery life watching video, and has a one-month standby charge. It will come in capacities of 16GB to 64GB of flash storage.
As expected, the device also can connect to the existing App Store. It was revealed that current iPhone and iPod touch applications will work on the iPad. With just a tap, existing applications can be run in full-screen mode.
Also introduced was “iBooks,” Apple’s e-book reading application. Jobs credited Amazon with pioneering the e-book market with its Kindle, but said Apple intends to improve on that model.
“We’re going to stand on their shoulders and go a bit further,” he said.
Jobs noted that the hardware is a “dream to type on,” and demonstrated how to read, view media and content and access applications on the hardware.
It includes calendar, address book, maps and music applications built-in. It also connects to the iTunes store.
“You can discover music, you can purchase it,” Jobs said. “Movies, TV shows, podcasts, iTunes University — everything built right in.”
It also has access to YouTube the streaming service’s high-definition streaming content.
“Using this thing is remarkable. It’s so much more intimate than a laptop, and it’s so much more capable than a smartphone,” Jobs said.
He then demonstrated browsing the Web on the device. Jobs sat on a couch on the stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and bought movie tickets on Fandango.
Thu, Jan 28, 2010
Apple iPhone, News