igcs Apple unveils anticipated iPad tablet_83
The iPad is “so much more intimate than a laptop and so much more capable than a smartphone,” he said.
Jobs, who appeared thin but healthy, said Apple was launching an online “iBookstore” for the iPad and touted its abilities as an electronic reader of books, newspapers and magazines.
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs has revealed the culture-changing company’s latest must-have device, a touchscreen tablet computer anointed the “iPad”.
He showed off various iPad features which include browsing the web, checking email, working with spreadsheets and charts, playing videogames, listening to music or watching video.
Some technology analysts believe the iPad will render other e-readers obsolete, while a number of publishers are counting on it to sell digital versions of their publications.
“Amazon has done a great job of pioneering this functionality with the Kindle,” Jobs said. “We are going to stand on their shoulders.”
“Do we have what it takes to establish a third category of products in between a laptop and a smartphone?” he asked. “We think we’ve done it.”
“You can have black-and-white, colour, video in your books - whatever the author wants,” he said. “We think the iPad is going to make a terrific e-book reader, not just for popular books but for textbooks as well.
“We are going to be able to bring all of the other great EA games for the iPhone from the App Store to this device in no time,” said Travis Boatman of EA’s mobile studios.
“We want to make something that combines the best of print and the best of digital,” Times digital operations vice president Martin Nisenholtz said as he showed off an early version of an app for the device. “We are incredibly psyched to pioneer the next stage in digital journalism.”
“We want to kick off 2010 by introducing a truly magical and revolutionary product,” said Jobs, who underwent a liver transplant last year and on Wednesday was making just his second public appearance since September.