Let us start with the pricing for the device. The announcement that the cheapest model of the iPad would cost $499 was a surprise to many who expected the tablet to start at $799 or even more than that.

But $499 has some severe limitations. It comes with a 16 Gigabyte SSD drive and no 3G. The 32 and 64 Gigabyte iPad models retail for $599 respectively $699 but they too come without 3G. 3G costs $130 on top of this which means that the price span for the iPad ranges from $499 for the basic iPad without 3G to $829 for the 64 Gigabyte hard drive iPad with 3G.

Dimensions and weight:

• Height: 9.56 inches (242.8 mm)
• Width: 7.47 inches (189.7 mm)
• Depth: 0.5 inch (13.4 mm)
• Weight: 1.5 pounds (.68 kg) Wi-Fi model, 1.6 pounds (.73 kg) Wi-Fi + 3G model

iPad Hardware specs:

• 9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology, 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi)
• Processor: 1GHz Apple A4 custom-designed, high-performance, low-power system-on-a-chip
• Battery: Built-in 25Whr rechargeable lithium-polymer battery ,Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music (according to Apple)
• Wi-Fi model: Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology
• Wi-Fi + 3G model: UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz), GSM/EDGE (850, 900,1800, 1900 MHz), Data only2, Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology
• Input / Output: Dock connector, 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack, Built-in speakers, Microphone, SIM card tray (Wi-Fi + 3G model only)
• Viewable document types (mail attachments): .jpg, .tiff, .gif (images); .doc and .docx (Microsoft Word); .htm and .html (web pages); .key (Keynote); .numbers (Numbers); .pages (Pages); .pdf (Preview and Adobe Acrobat); .ppt and .pptx (Microsoft PowerPoint); .txt (text); .rtf (rich text format); .vcf (contact information); .xls and .xlsx (Microsoft Excel)
• H.264 video up to 720p, 30 frames per second, Main Profile level 3.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

What speaks for the iPad? Its design obviously which is something that Apple seems to be very capable of doing right. Support for the all apps that are currently offered in the App Store.

What the iPad does not offer:

• Connectivity is bad. It does not have one USB port nor the possibility to use an adapter for better hardware support. That means no external hard drives (buy the more expensive devices if you need more space), no card readers to automatically upload the previous photos from your kid’s last birthday and no functionality for devices that can only be connected with wires (most printers for example).
• No Flash. the iPad does not support flash much like the iPhone which makes it less usable for web surfing, especially for entertainment hungry folks
• No Camera. No camera, no webcam means no video and webcam chat.
• 3G costs extra. If you want 3G you have to pay an extra fee of. To be precise it will cost $130 in the US
• Fixed battery that cannot be replaced by the user
• No optical drive which means no option to view movies or access files this way
• multitasking

The unknown

• Which formats can be read by the iPad once they are on the hard drive. Are those the same formats that are supported to be viewed as mail attachments?
• Will there be DRM?

There you have it. The iPad is there and it seems that while some users cannot wait to get their hands on the stylish tablet computer others are wary and prefer to wait for the soon to be released iPad 3G instead.

According to the rumor, Apple has pushed back the Tablet launch schedule from early 2010 to later. The original schedule, apparently, was around March 2010 and the new schedule is sometime in the 2^nd half of 2010.

The reason behind the delay is cited as a last minute decision to use OLED screens. This new decision adds a bit more development time and hence the launch has been rescheduled.

But OLED screens are expensive and according to certain estimates, the OLED version can cost around $2000 for the customer. The OLED screen is supposed to be around 9.7”, which is pretty big. There is a normal TFT LCD version in the works apparently, that will cost a more manageable sum of around $800-$1000. The LCD screen will be bigger too – around 10.6”.

There is another dimension to the rumor – OLED prices are expected to drop massively in the next year. So Apple is likely to wait till the prices come down so that the OLED version can retail at a lower price. And since this will need a data connection on the go – it will probably be sold by carriers who will subsidize it. So the price will become more manageable for the consumers.

The manufacturing partners have been identifies as Foxconn, Quanta and Pegatron. [read]

Apple Pen-Based Input Patent Re-fuels Tablet Rumors

This will certainly be of interest to the Newton Pad revivalists. A new patent filed by Apple in July 2009 has gone public. It improves on pen-based computer systems through an advanced ink-recognition application, which is the objective of the patent. Steve Jobs has been known to dislike digital styluses (or so he says) but even he has to recognize the fact that the pen is what gets art on paper and makes a lot of other things happen. Fingers can only type but they can hardly create artwork (except brilliant finger-painting of course). So will the tablet have a stylus and the rumored multi-point hand recognition (another Apple patent)? What do you think? The tablet rumors are officially on again! [read]

Apple Tablet Knock Off, Already?

Looks like handheld makers are launching into a pre-emptive strike against Apple. We are suddenly seeing an influx of tablet devices that are trying to be like the rumored Apple slate/tablet.

Admittedly, the tablet concept is nothing new but this sudden rise in the number of such devices can at least partly be attributed to everyone’s fear of Apple doing to the tablet/ebook reader market what it did to the smartphone market.

I would really love that if it happens and I am quite sure it will. I will love it not because I am an Apple addict but because it will fuel innovation in the competition. Just like the iPhone pushed everyone to think along different lines.

Anyway, the device that got me saying all this is the Boeye MID 700 tablet. The styling is distinctly reminiscent of the iPhone but it is running on the Android. Best of both worlds? Not until they start producing it commercially and people get to use it. [read]

Apple’s New Store Press Previewed, ‘Tis BIG

If you want to know what the new 67^th Broadway store looks like, you can take a look at the pictures taken by various press folks at a recent preview. Apple opened the store for an invite-only press meet, public opening to happen today (Saturday). To sum up the experience in short – it is BIG! To give you an idea of how big – the walls are some 42 feet high! The vast expanse of the store is all stone and glass and the gadgets glow like life beacons. You just have to take a look at the pictures yourself. Gizmodo has pretty good ones. [read]

And if you want to read some interesting Apple Store data, Gizmodo has that too. [read]

Apple has Cash, A Lot Of It

Apple’s cash reserve has come to the attention of the public again. In case you hadn’t noticed, Apple has a LOT of cash. It is somewhere around $35 billion and no one really knows what apple intends to do with all that money. But knowing Steve and Apple, they will surely be doing spectacular things with it. When you have clarity of thought, vision and the power to execute that vision – great things are bound to happen. [read]

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If you want to catch up on all the important Apple related news of this week, remember to check in at Otaku Gadgets for the Saturday Apple Pie.

So in my last post I dealt with the signs of Apple’s intentions of taking the print industry along for the Tablet ride. This one is just to round up the other rumors that have been going around. Plus, an older tablet project has been dug on the Internet and it sounds pretty interesting.

Other than the Bill Keller slip and the rumors around Australian media companies, there are more rumors on the Internet that surround the impending Apple Tablet. One of them concerns something pretty mundane – a SIM card tray designed for a future generation Apple device. But boring as the part itself may be, for us information hungry techies it is like piecing together a puzzle from a one-piece clue.

So this SIM card tray that you see here, compared side-by-side with the SIM card tray used in the current iPhone, is pretty interesting at the points that have been highlighted. The first thing that is apparent is the fact the new SIM tray is bigger than the current SIM tray and at that size, there is no way it is made for a device the size of an iPhone. The iPhone is a pretty tightly packed device.

Next, the new tray has a metal frame inside the plastic one. This seems to be a way to reinforce the entire mechanism so that it does not fall apart. This might be because it is meant for a larger device. Also, the difference in the diameter of the hole clearly indicates that the release mechanism has been changed.

So now that we agree that it isn’t for an iPhone, we can also presume that it is not for the iPod Touch 3G either. After all, they are quite similar in size. Additionally, I think it is safe to say that Apple will include a 3G modem on MacBooks anytime soon. That leaves us with a portable device that is bigger than the iPhone/Touch and needs 3G connection on the go. So it looks like we are staring at a part from the Apple. [read]

Next, we have an ARM related rumor. ARM’s Cortex A9 chip design – 5-times faster than the Atom at the same power consumption and also 60% smaller – has been licensed by another company. This was discovered in the Q3 report of the company. Upon being asked about the licensee, ARM said that the contract prevented them from divulging the name. 9to5 Mac speculates that it might be Apple.  I know this is too vague but Apple has licensed ARM designs before and although this is too late into the development cycle, it is possible that Apple will include the Cortex A9 in future iPhones and Tablets. [read]

Some time back there was another rumor that the stellar engineering team from PA SEMI is currently working in two groups. One working on chips for the iPhone and the other is working on a PDA device. [read]

Even if that is not true, they are definitely working on something! It has been quite some time since PA SEMI was bought out by Apple and we have not seen anything all that big from Apple in terms of chips. Plus, the design team seems to be busy as well. Because all of Apple’s recent updates have shown very minimal design changes. The Magic Mouse is perhaps the only thing that required some designing and it is nothing too big. A better example would be Snow Leopard. I know it was more like a maintenance thing than anything else but there is almost nothing to show the difference visually. Call me more speculative than necessary but it does feel like Apple is getting ready for something big.

Then we have the sudden upsurge of Apple engineers traveling to China. While this may be just routine travel to the factories but so many together and so frequently is arousing suspicions indeed. Besides, Chinese company Foxconn is already rumored to be commissioned with the upcoming Tablet device. Over all, it looks like a development cycle is ending rapidly and a massive production cycle is beginning. We will keep you updated. [read]

Before I end, I want to draw your attention to this – a much older tablet device that was terminated by Apple. It has been dug up by Techcrunch and it is worth a look.

Currently, the only comparable stores are owned by Amazon and Barnes and Noble. But they are not nearly comprehensive enough to buoy up the industry. If Apple has its way, we will have everything from newspapers and periodicals to graphic novels and literary criticism available on the iTunes store. Okay, so that last one might take time to arrive on iTunes but the buzz created by Apple’s (not so) covert activities point towards such things happening.

Steve’s Comment

Right after the rock n’ roll event, Steve Jobs was interviewed by David Pogue where Steve was asked directly about eBook-readers. What Steve said in response was interpreted as him saying a flat no. That is what it seemed like after Pogue re-wrote the interview.

But then techcrunch dug up the cached version of the transcription that Pogue had originally posted before the re-write. And as they rightly point out – Steve is not saying that Apple will not partake in the eBook market.

Instead, he is actually saying that Apple is not interested in making a dedicated device like the Kindle and that general purpose devices will ultimately be the norm in  the future. That is a nice way of saying “We are making a general purpose device that will own all such dumb devices (like iPhone owns other smartphones).” [read]

iTunes Gets Tyrese Gibson’s Mayhem

This small event set off a big round of speculations in the tech world. Tyerese Gibson’s Mayhem became available on iTunes for $1.99 in the iTunes LP rich media format.

The speculation was that this was just a test. The tools created by Apple for this job are likely to become the base for the tools that will be given to other such authors to ready their material for the iTunes stores. Logically, the iTunes LP/Extras format is the prefect medium for this kind of content. But Apple is might even tweak it further before it is deemed fit for most of what print media has to offer. [read]

Rumors Of NYT And Others Meeting With Apple

After the iPod haze lifted, there was the Gizmodo article on Apple’s activities with the top rung of the publishing industry. This included editors, owners and others who were apparently being briefed about a new device. Word was that they were also having extensive meetings regarding selling their content on this new device/platform. [read]

NYT Editor Slips Apple Slate

This is a more recent slip leak where the venerable Bill Keller, executive editor of New York Times, slipped the words Apple Slate during an internal meeting with the newspaper’s digital team. The video was never meant to be seen by the public but this was too tantalizing to be kept under wraps I suppose. He mentioned the device as impending and probably gave the closest thing to an official confirmation of the existence of the Apple Tablet.

Apple Rumors Around Australian Media Companies

And here’s the latest bit of relevant rumor. A newspaper in Australia reports that Apple has contacted various media companies in the country about a new device. It wants to know if the companies would be interested in selling their content on this new device. The new device is portable (duh) and is described as being too big for the pocket but small enough for a handbag.

None of the companies have commented on this and if they know what’s good for them, none of them will till the embargo is lifted. [read]

The Sheer Logic And History Of It All

Both Apple and Microsoft had envisioned a future where tablets rule the world. Bill Gates had famously said that people will go back to the pen very soon. Well, that did not happen but we did see both companies trying.

Apple had their Newton pad and Microsoft had ideas. Nothing really worked out. The ideas were too far beyond the capabilities of consumer tech at that point.

Now however, in the post-iPhone world, the idea of owning and using a tablet is completely plausible and it is possible too. Along with that, the eBook market is really heating up. Judging by the sheer number of new and under-development eBook readers we have seen recently, it is obvious that everyone sees opportunity here.

Apple has never really been the type to jump in medias res. Instead, the company has tirelessly developed and tested out products to make them perfect in every possible way and then released it. Of course, nothing will ever be perfect but the first iPhone did blow everyone away. A few product cycles down, the iPhone 3GS is the hottest thing around.

So my guess is that when Apple releases their tablet/slate early next year (and we are pretty sure they will), it will be another game changing device. If you are still skeptical, see me after the launch.

There were many reasons behind it failing and they were there because the concept was way ahead of the available and affordable consumer technology at that time.

So now that we are on the brink of another tablet from the company, I would like to tone down all our expectations a little and give you a dose of practicality in this post.

• The OS Problem – The tablet will be a very unique device. It is exactly halfway between the iPhone and the MacBooks. So there are two choices for Apple – scale up the iPhone OS or scale down OS X. Logically, scaling down the full sized OS X would pose a lot of problems in terms of expectations and engineering. Scaling up the iPhone OS makes much more sense. But then, what do you tell the app devs? Here’s a new iPhone OS resolution and specs, make apps for it? The third choice is making a whole new OS. But that would mean forcing users to learn something new and making things more complicated (three OS’ to maintain). We are lazy people.

• The Portability Problem – Would you really like to carry around a 10.6inch glass tablet? I thought not. It will fracture all too easily. This structural problem can only be overcome by making A) a tough lid for it or B) a touchscreen built out of shatterproof, bulletproof, extra tough glass that can take a straight punch to the face and stay intact. The second option would make the device far too expensive and the first would make it the lid an almost redundant piece. Detachable or not, it would not be very helpful about the portability and usability.

• Weight And Battery Life – All that screen space and whatever the processing power is, requires power. And everyone knows that more battery power means more weight. So what would you rather have? A 3-cell battery that does not last long or a 9-cell battery that makes it impossible to carry the device for too long? And let’s not talk about the screen brightness. Forget working under direct sunlight; let’s see this device remain workable in a brightly lit room without dying in an hour.

• Processing Power and Performance – With battery life already an issue, one must  wonder – how much processing power would this tablet have? Something around 600MHz like the iPhone 3GS just won’t cut it for this large a device. You need to have something fairly muscle-bound, like an Intel ULV or Atom at the very least. Now think of a netbook and think of the frustratingly sluggish performance. Apple would probably need to artificially block multi-tasking on the tablet as well. Bummer.

• Usability – Will someone please tell me how the hell am I supposed to use this tablet? I am almost certain that I can’t hold in one hand because it will be too heavy. Besides, I would really like to use both hands on a 10.6inch touchscreen. Also, Apple would be loath to include a kickstand on the device, which would totally destroy the aesthetics of the curved and polished back that it apparently has. So the only remaining way is to keep it on a flat surface parallel to the ground and bend over to use it. As a blogger I already spend too much time sitting badly and getting backaches. I could live without more. So unless Apple makes this thing levitate in mid air, this does not look very useful to me.

Of course, knowing Apple and dear Stevie, each of these reasons has already caused a total reset. So hopefully, we will see another masterpiece from Apple early next year. And if it fails, you read about it at gHacks!

The unnamed source goes on to say that the device could be unveiled as early as this September (few weeks from today), with availability set for November. The only thing that is holding up the process according to said source is the blessings of the all wise Steve Jobs.

Will it sell? That is the question! To be honest I don’t think now is the best time to be releasing a Tablet PC with a $699 to $799 price tag (as analysts are speculating). No, I wasn’t expecting anything under $600, but it never hurts to hope does it?

Despite the odds set against it, I think it’s about time Apple did something in the Tablet PC realm. Granted we have a pretty good idea of what to expect if this device does make it to the market and I’m sure that most of its buyers will be purchasing this based on need and not want, but heck it’s still a nice idea and an entire foot of touchscreen goodness in a package less than an inch thick is awesome to say the least.

While I have had my silent (and not so silent) disputes with the iPhone, I have always thought of the iPod Touch as the best PMP on the market hands down. That said, I still believe its lacking one thing, screen space. An Apple Tablet would be the perfect addition to an already great lineup, and if we’re to believe what is being floated around about eBook reader support, games and robust media capabilities, this wouldn’t be a hard sell among many.

If Apple can convince consumers that instead of buying an Amazon Kindle and their own iPod Touch, they should take that money and put it towards the Apple “iTablet” we might just have a winner. Remember, unlike their computers, Apple’s mobile devices are all about media content, games and everything with the word “fun” in it. Few can find faults with the iPod (except for its outrageous update prices) and bringing the concept to a device Apple will be selling on luxury, and not practicality, is not a bad idea.

Remember, unlike Microsoft, Apple doesn’t have to promise functionality and bargain for its loyal subjects to buy its devices. That said I’m sure there will be a lot more people who will take a look at the ‘iTablet” and while I’m in no way loyal to Cupertino I have to say they would really have to screw up the idea to persuade me not to mortgage my house for one of these.

Let’s just see how Jobs decides to handle this one. So what are your thoughts? Agreement and disagreement is welcome.