Reactions to Apple iPad [Updated]

This morning (10:00 US PST) Steve Jobs introduced the Apple iPad to the highly anticipated crowd at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center.

The specifications on the device are:

  • Display: 9.56 inches (242.8 mm) IPS display
  • Width: 7.47 inches (189.7 mm)
  • Depth: 0.5 inches
  • Weight: 1.5 pounds
  • 16, 32, or 64 GB solid state hard drives
  • Processor: 1 GHz Apple A4 chip
  • Wi-Fi: 802.11n
  • Battery: 10 hours, over 1 month standby
  • Other features: Speaker, Microphone, 30-pin connector, Accelerometer and compass

WiFi version:

  • Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n)

WiFi + 3G version:

  • Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n)
  • UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)
  • GSM/EDGE (850, 900,1800, 1900 MHz)
Price/Models 16GB 32GB 64GB
WiFi USD499.00 USD599.00 USD699.00
WiFi + 3G USD629.00 USD729.00 USD829.00

The versions with the WiFi and 3G radios will be available in 90 days (some time in May 2010). I believe for this device to live up to its full potential, the 3G capable version is the one to get.

Of course you can save USD130 and go with your carrier’s HSPA modem/WiFi hotspot solution. Many of the carriers offering such a device will give away the device for free in exchange for a 3G data tariff plan; which you will need for the 3G enabled iPad. Alternatively, you can purchase a HSPA modem/WiFi hotspot, like the MiFi, but that will cost you around USD3xx.00. As with all mobile device, I personally will be happy with the 16GB version of the device. So I will start saving my USD629.00 (HKD4,891.48).

Strangely in the list of languages the iPad supports, Traditional Chinese is not one of them

  • Language support

    for English, French, German, Japanese, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Russian

  • Keyboard support

    for English (US) English (UK), French (France, Canada), German, Japanese (QWERTY), Dutch, Flemish, Spanish, Italian, Simplified Chinese (Handwriting and Pinyin), Russian

  • Dictionary support

    for English (US), English (UK), French, French (Canadian), French (Swiss), German, Japanese, Dutch, Flemish, Spanish, Italian, Simplified Chinese (Handwriting, Pinyin), Russian


I personally does not like the name “iPad”, I prefers the “Mac Slate“. The one thing Apple did right was to enable all the existing iPhone’s 140,000 applications in the iTunes Store to run on the iPad.

With the new iPad, Apple also released a keyboard stand for the iPad.

Along with iPad, Apple also introduced a new iBookstore within iTunes. It currently has 5 publishers (Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan/McGraw-Hill, Hachette Book Group)  supporting it and more coming.

Apple released a new iWork designed for the iPad touch interface. I wonder how much of the features of the new iWork will be transferred to the Mac version of iWork.

Overall this is another device that most likely will shaken the “netbook”, “tablet” and “eBook/eReader” markets. Although, Apple say that the iPad runs all the iPhone application, but looking at the Apple developed iPad applications: iWork, Email, Photos, etc., the iPad SDK has way more capabilities and flexibilities for the developer to create applications that deliver a fully immersed experience so that the end-user does not feel like they are using a computer but an interactive device.

Now, I can’t way to see how iPhone 4.0 and the upcoming iPhone will change, given what Apple has introduced in the iPad. Definitely an exciting 2010 for Apple fans worldwide.

Here is a link to Apple’s promotion video for the iPad.

[Updated: February 28, 2010, 12:00]
Apple has made the keynote presentation launching the iPad available on their web site.

A comprehensive guide to the iPad produced by Mashable.

[Updated: February, 28, 2010, 15:00]
Reactions and editorials from staff at Engadget.

Several opinions about the iPad on Mashable:

9 Replies to “Reactions to Apple iPad [Updated]”

  1. Specs are kind of what we expected. A disappointment was the applications that run on it. From the stills last night, didn't seem to demo the SI mockup although in a separate news clip they did interview an SI guy. I guess now that it's official, all potential or existing publishers/developers for the new device can come out to the open and show demos of what is in store for the iPad.Would have like to seen a more detailed iTunes workflow for purchasing eBook content – I envision something similar to that for music and maybe one can not only subscribe to magazines, but to buy individual articles as opposed to the whole magazine? Anyway, I think they probably have some legal stuff that's still getting in the way of a full blown announcement on that front with publishers. Hope they can get all the legal stuff sorted out in the next 2-3 months before the actual iPad launches.It would be a great device to bring on a plane to watch all the movies and TV series on a large screen as opposed to the tiny iPhone one.A last interesting point is that after a quick skim over the South China Morning Post (SCMP) today, there was no mention of the iPad anywhere – I might be wrong, but then maybe SCMP is sticking to their traditional print media and not embracing this…see how long that will last.

  2. I think Apple was right to put the iPhone OS in there, as full-blown OSes are too power demanding in their current form. I've seen dual-core Atom CPUs running Win7 and they are slow, because Win7 isn't really optimized for them. Another reason is probably Apple didn't want the iPad and iMacs to cross compete. So even if the iPad's hardware could run OSX, it would be a stripped down version of it.The fact that they designed their own CPU for the iPad probably means that other existing CPUs out there aren't suited for the task. So they might be the only ones with the hardware that has the right balance between performance and power consumption (as of now).One area that I am disappointed in is the lack of multi-tasking support. From what I have read, the iPhone OS as of now only allows 1 app to be run at a time. Hopefully the iPad will support the next release (4.0 I think) which will hopefully add support for multiple apps running concurrently.I would like to see more apps that will help me go “paperless”. Imagine having the iPad with you at all times, taking notes, just jotting down stuff without having to find a pen or paper and then easily finding that info again.I would also like to see a really good PDF reader App, as I need to read a lot of PDF documents. A good PDF reader should allow me to quickly flick through the document, to view multiple parts of the same file concurrently and any other functions that will make the experience “natural”.Anyway I think overall the hardware is good whereas the software side is a bit lacking but hopefully there will be improvements to the apps later.

  3. The reason Apple showed the native iPhone applications running on the iPad is to emphasis the fact that they can leverage the over 140K iPhone app they have in the App Store, but of course in reality not too many of them will be suitable for the iPad.On the other hand, due to the secrecy of the project they could not invite too many developers in to convert or redesign their iPhone app for the iPad. Although, as you can see from the Apple applications (iWork, eMail, etc) the new SDK has great potentials for developers.I believe the iPad will become the platform where we finally loose the concept of “applications” and allows the user to focus on the task at hand with the iPad that meets specific focus depending on the application it is running.

  4. Apple is building us for the release of a Touch OS, which the iPad and iPhone will use. Also note that the iPhone OS is indeed based on the core OS X which is used on all Macintosh. That is why in the last version of iPhone OS 3.1.2 developers were able to take advantage of some of the graphic frameworks Mac developers were using in OS 10.6.2. Similarly these frameworks will slowly appear on the iPhone/iPad OS's when it becomes appropriate.The fact that the Macintosh, iPhone and iPad all uses a form of OS based on the core OS X, Apple is able to innovate in one area of a platform and migrate those capabilities to another platform quickly and easily. They had done so with the iPhone and Macintosh. I imagine innovations in iWork UI will eventually migrate back to the Macintosh versions of iWork.If you read my other reply, you will see that I believe the iPad will be the platform that finally allows us to remove the concept of “applications” and enables the users to focus on the task at hand. Imagine a mechanic running an application on his iPad that diagnose a car's engine and electronics, or a stage light director running an application that allows him to control all the lightings and sets of a stage. Both of these individuals have a specifically designed iPad determined by the applications that is running on it, the user does not think about the application but only the tasks at hand.Similarly an iPad running avionics and airline guidelines applications, will be able to assist a pilot in making decisions during a flight with light data feed in by the plane's interface and the application on the iPad utilize this data along with airline and air plane manufacture guidelines, make recommendations to the pilot on adjustments and other flying related decisions.The iPad will be a different device to each user like the iPhone is to its users.

  5. I think since all the mobile devices from Apple, the second letter is started with 'P', like iPod and iPhone, so that they want to make it exclusive and named it as iPad. Actually it is kind of cool stuff, easy to pack for travelling.

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