Drea Knufken
The new iPad defines the post-PC market. At least that’s what Steve Jobs suggested today during the unveiling of the iPad 2. Jobs, who said the new tablet would ship on March 11 (in black and white) came out to a standing ovation during today’s Apple announcement.
The long and short of the presentation is that the iPad 2 is lighter, thinner, faster, and more powerful than its predecessor. As usual, Apple is making it easy to justify spending $500 on a sexy new computing gadget, while setting a new industry standard for tablet competitors to scramble behind.
Here’s a summary of the Apple event, based on Engadget’s liveblog:
The iPad 2
It’s faster, thinner, lighter, with better graphics, a gyroscope, two cameras, and better software–for the same price. What’s not to love?
Hardware
It has a new chip called the A5
There are dual-core processors and a CPU that’s twice as fast
Graphics that Apple claims are nine times faster
Rear and front-facing cameras
Gyroscope
HDMI video port
It has the same battery life as the old iPad
It sells for the same price
The new iPad also comes with a snazzy new cover called the SmartCover. Using magnets, it automatically wakes up the iPad when you open it, and puts it to sleep when you close it. You can fold it to prop up the iPad. The microfiber material cleans the iPad, too.
The new iPad is 33% thinner than the old one–that’s thinner than your iPhone 4. It’s also lighter.
It’s shipping in black and white, for AT&T and Verizon
Software
Great opportunities for the new iPad
iOS 4.3 is out.
Among other things, it will add a personal hotspot for iPhone 4.
New software includes PhotoBooth, FaceTime for iPad, iMovie for iPad, GarageBand for iPad (you can edit up to 8 tracks at once. It promises to make music-making more accessible for the masses, kind of like what YouTube did for video.)
iBooks
iBooks is a solid competitor in the online book space.
The iBookstore now has more than 2,500 publishers and 200 million accounts.
More than 100 million books have been downloaded over the past year.
Random House is adding more than 17,000 books.
Other Apple Stats
The App Store and iPads are big business, and are making big money.
Developers have earned more than $2 billion for selling apps.
More than 100 million iPhones have been sold.
15 million iPads sold in 2010; that’s more than 90% tablet market share.
Apple made $9.5 billion off those sales last year.
There are currently 65,000 iPad apps.
