Apple iPad, the All-Around Device for $499 Base Model, Sweet!

Alright boys and girls, let’s all welcome Apple’s latest creation – the iPad. I know, it’s a crappy name for an Apple product. Makes you think that the Apple boys seemed to have run out of ideas already to come up with a killer name for a supposedly killer device. But hey, we’re free to call it whatever we want. What matters is what it can do, right?

Frankly, the Apple boys maybe a bit confused as well when it comes to determining what they want the iPad to be. Is it a tablet? Is it an e-book reader? Is it a bigger version of iPod?  Actually, Apple wants the iPad to be a bit of everything.

The iPad is definitely a Tablet, by looks alone. But it lacks the slide-out keyboard common to tablet PCs. But hey, it has a full capacitive multi-touch feature so that more than makes up for the lack of a physical keyboard.

It can handle games. Specifically graphics intensive  games such as the one demoed by EA. It can even do pixel double so that existing games can maximize the 9.7-inch screen since all of these games were developed for the small screen estate of iPhone and iPod touch.

Most interesting function of the Apple iPad of course is the e-book reader part. It can definitely handle e-book reading task. But more importantly, Apple also announced it’s e-book store – iBooks. So, there are now three Apple gadget-specific, online store, iTunes, Apps Store and iBooks. And having an e-book store of its own means a lot for the success of the iPad as an electronic reading device. Fortunately for Apple, they have already made deals with four major publishers – Harper Collins, Simon and Schuster, Penguin and MacMillan and Hatchett. The only information left is how much e-books are going to be sold.

Lastly, the part that got me excited? – Pricing. And it goes something like these:

• $499 for the base 16GB Wi-Fi
• $599 for the 32GB model Wi-Fi
• $699 for the 64GB model Wi-Fi
• $629 for the 16GB Wi-Fi + 3G
• $729 for the 32GB Wi-Fi +3G
• $829 for the 64GB Wi-Fi  +3G

U.S. release date will be late March in the U.S. and selected countries.

And here’s the official Apple announcement for the iPad. Apple Gazette’s technical specs round-up here.

So, are you buying the iPad? I am, most definitely.

Originally posted on January 27, 2010 @ 3:50 pm