Its Official: Apple iPad unveiled

Today at the Apple event, Apple founder and CEO, Steve Jobs has officially unveiled its much hyped, rumored and company’s first tablet PC, the iPad. The design is much similar to that of iPhone. iPad features a 9.7-inch 1024×768 resolution multi-touch capacitive LCD display, WiFi, bluetooth, and optional 3G, speakers, headphone slot, USB port, SD card reader and a 30 pin dock connector to charge the device.

The iPad runs on Apple developed 1GHz “A4″ processor while the battery gives 10 hours of power backup and 1 month of stand by time. iPad comes with storage options of 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. iPad runs on iPhone OS 3.2 with custom UI. The whole iPad is only half inch thick while weighs about 1.5 pounds. The keyboard dock beneath the portrait position of iPad lets you connect with an external keyboard.

The iPad can be used in both the landscape and portrait modes. It can be synced with iTunes. That means just like iPhone, all the iTunes apps can be used in iPad. Jobs has said iPad suits best for viewing media like movies and photos and playing games when compared to laptops or PCs. The iPad comes with software including a calendar, maps, a video player and iPod software for playing music. There is also an iWorks suite for iPad users which contains apps like Numbers for creating spreadsheets, Keynote for presentations and Pages for word processing. Each of these app costs $9.99.

Apple has also developed an iBook app where users can buy the book of their choice from the iBook store and can read it in their iPad just like they read their books. Apple have partnered with the publishing companies like MacMillan, Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Hachett Book Group. The ebooks are available in color as well as Black and White versions which includes images as well as videos. Users can choose fonts and font sizes of their choice while reading an ebook.

Apple has kept the pricing of iPad reasonable starting at $499 for 16GB, 32GB for $599, and $699 64GB. By adding the optional 3G feature increase the cost by $130 per model. The WiFi-only model of iPad will start shipping in 60 days, while the 3G models will come in 90.

Apple has tied up with AT&T to deliver the 3G functionality to its 3G iPad with data plans starting from $14.99 for a 250MB while the unlimited monthly plan for $29.99 contract free. All the iPad comes unlocked and features a microsim which can be used on other national as well as international carriers. Steve Jobs has said that the international data plans will be finalized by June/July this year.

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