After the blood-in-the-water, Tiger shark-like frenzy leading up to the unveiling of Apple’s new tablet this week, it’s understandable that you might feel, well, a tad underwhelmed. Even the Apple rumor mill can’t peg every nut and bolt, so there’s always something that was touted by the gossip, but didn’t show in the real deal.
No, the iPad — a name that’s struck some as offensive — doesn’t make popcorn. It won’t recharge by setting it in a sunny spot. It won’t even run Flash, for cryin’ out loud.
What will it do? What’s inside? And most important, what’s it going to cost?
Surprisingly, there were some surprises yesterday when Apple CEO Steve Jobs — still looking thin but no longer sickly gaunt — showed off the iPad, beginning with its price, which was lower than most had predicted.
To get going, we’ve answered some of the first round of questions about what Jobs called “magical” and “revolutionary,” but which a lot of pundits called much more mundane.
How much will it cost? $499 at the bottom, $829 at the top, with four more configurations in between.
Here’s the deal … the iPad comes in two models: One with WiFi connectivity only, the second with both WiFi and 3G. For each model there are three configurations based on the amount of flash RAM storage.
The WiFi-only models costs $499, $599 and $699 for the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB configurations, respectively. Add $130 to each of those prices for the WiFi+3G model and you get $629, $729 and $829.
Some experts have said the $130 surcharge for 3G is “ridiculous,” noting that a 3G chipset adds less than $10 to the materials cost of the iPad. Other hardware in the model, such as GPS, would add a few more dollars.
When can I get one? Apple’s saying “late March” for the WiFi-only model, “late April” for the WiFi+3G iPad. And no, you can’t order one yet.
The company isn’t taking pre-orders at the moment. Instead, Apple’s only accepting names and e-mail addresses, which it will use to notify customers when the online store is ready to take credit card numbers.
I’ve heard some say the iPad is fast. What’s that about? The tablet’s powered by what CEO Steve Jobs yesterday called an “Apple A4″ processor, which he also acknowledged was Apple-designed. Jobs didn’t come out and say it, but everyone is assuming that the chip was created by P.A. Semi, the Santa Clara, Calif. boutique microprocessor design company Apple acquired in 2008.
No comments:
Post a Comment