iPad to fill the gap
2010-01-28 14:40
San Francisco - Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs took the wraps off the highly anticipated iPad tablet and pitched it at a surprisingly low price, aiming to bridge the gap between smart phones and laptops.
Jobs, who returned to the helm in 2009 after a much-scrutinised liver transplant, took the stage at a packed theatre on Wednesday and showed off a sleek tablet computer with a 24cm touch screen.
The iPad can run movies, games and a gamut of applications. And taking on e-readers like Amazon's Kindle, Apple announced a digital bookstore called iBooks that will let users buy from publishers including Pearson Plc's Penguin, News Corp's HarperCollins, and Hachette Book Group.
"What once occupied half your living room can now be dropped in a bag," said Outsell Inc analyst Ned May. "It's pulling together a variety of needs (in) a universal entertainment device."
The iPad will sell from late March for as low as $499 for 16 gigabytes of storage. An extra $130 is needed to equip it with third-generation wireless capability.
Aggressive pricing
"Pricing is very aggressive, so it's pretty positive from a mass adoption perspective. It was about $200 lower than what I was expecting," said Brian Marshall, an analyst with Broadpoint Amtech. Other analysts had speculated that the tablet may cost as much as $1 000.
The iPad is Apple's biggest product launch since the iPhone three years ago, and arguably rivals the smart phone as the most anticipated in the company's history. The launch follows months of speculation on the web and on Wall Street.
Apple hopes to sell consumers on the value of tablets after other technology companies, including Microsoft Corp and Toshiba Corp, have failed in recent years. As iPod sales wane, Apple is looking for another growth engine.
Jobs said there was a need for a new type of device that would sit between a smart phone and laptop computer, and that can perform tasks like browse the internet and play games.
"If there's going to be a third category of device, it's going to have to be better at these kinds of tasks," said the chief executive, dressed in his trademark black turtleneck and blue jeans.
The iPad has a near life-sized touch keyboard and supports web browsing. It comes with a built-in calendar and address book, Jobs said, calling it "awesome".
Some analysts said the iPad, with its multimedia bells and whistles, is a tough competitor for Amazon's Kindle. But others noted that the Kindle costs less - $259 for the cheapest version - and was more tailored for long-form reading.
"This is not an e-reader - this is a device that can be used to read books," Cowen & Co analyst James Friedland said of the iPad. "This doesn't change the game - at the same time, Apple is a formidable competitor and our view is that over time, Apple and Amazon will emerge as the two largest players" in e-books.
