Updated: Holy cow, it's $499 for 16GB with wifi, $599 for 32GB, $699 for 64GB, plus $130 for 3G data capability. Shipping in 60 days, 90 days for 3G models. Comes with a full-size keyboard dock.
Here it is: the iPad product page.
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Why am I, on The Microsoft Blog, dedicating a fair amount of coverage to today's Apple iPad announcement? Because it really does have the potential to change the personal computing industry as we know it.
That's my impression. During Apple's presentation at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, CEO Steve Jobs gave the impression that the iPad is geared for at-home or at-coffee-shop computing. And if the gadget catches on, and people start finding touch-screen navigation and mobile-app-based computing better than point-and-click PCs – well, Microsoft may have a problem on its hands.
Eh, maybe not. That's why I want to hear your opinions.
What were your impressions? What impressed you, what underwhelmed you? Do you think the iPad will catch on like the iPhone, or fade into the background like the MacBook Air? Will Windows 7-powered tablets be able to put up a fight?
Maybe I'm showing my tech-nerdiness when I say the most impressive thing I heard coming out of today's presentation was that Apple is more than ready for iPad developers. Today Apple also announced a refreshed iPhone software developers kit (SDK) that supports the iPad, and that the iPad already supports the vast majority of iPhone/iPod Touch applications. Hook your new iPad up to iTunes, and the apps you already have transfer over.
Sure, the user interface looks beautiful. The New York Times is on board with a newspaper app. Gaming, it seems, could be a big draw. And there's a new iBooks store to compete with the Amazon Kindle (and others). Plus many, many other features.
The specs?
- 0.5 inches thin
- 1.5 pounds
- 9.7-inch diagonal display
- capacitive touch screen
- 1 GHz Apple A4 chip
- 16 to 64 GB solid-state storage
- 802.11n wifi
- some models have unlocked 3G (unlimited AT&T data for $30/month, no contract)
- accelerometer, compass, speaker, microphone, headphone jack
- no camera
- 10 hours of battery life
- USB via connector
- aluminum and glass casing
- more specs here
Supports iTunes syncing on Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP Home or Professional SP3. And Mac OS X, of course.
Update: OK, here's some raw video.
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