iPad

Kevin Rose (Digg Founder) has a post on the upcoming Apple iTV (Sept ‘10) – he is listing four reasons why he predicts the service to be a big time success (or ‘a game changer’ as he indirectly puts it)… No word on pricing (price plans), tech specs and other juicy details. We do get an estimated release date though (Quote: “From what I hear we should expect to see the iTV launch in September”). Kevin also notes that Google TV is just around corner – I cannot wait to see that bland – Google TV/iPad – huh…

Here are four key differentiators of the upcoming iTV service as Kevin outlines it:

• iOS TV Applications
• MobileMe Picture/Video sharing
• a la carte (app) stations
• The iPad will turn into one big badass remote control

The “a la carte (app) stations” is something that Boxee has been experimenting with for quite some time now – I love the concept and give Apple’s ‘app’ focus and ‘know how’ I am sure they will nail this one big time.

There are over 300 comments below the post, needless to say – the discussion is ‘lively’…

Read the post here.

Here is another piece of news on the rumored iPad upgrades, this time via Digitimes (the source was historically reliable – hence this post).

• The 9.7 in device version will sport a faster ARM A9 processor and will have a 512MB of RAM (should start selling in 2011).
• The 7 inch version (1024×768) is an addition to the product line and should be released in the same timeframe.

Here is the source note:

Apple is set launch an upgraded 9.7-inch iPad adopting a new ARM Cortex-A9-based processor and 512MB RAM in the first quarter of 2011. Meanwhile, the company will also launch a 7-inch iPad using the Cortex-A9 processor and an IPS panel with a resolution of 1024×768, according to Digitimes Research senior analyst Mingchi Kuo.

Source Link: Digitimes.
Read more about the chip here: ARM Cortex A9 Processor

The chip comes in two flavors running on 800MHz and 2GHz respectively [(A) Cortex-A9 Single Core - Soft Macro Trial Implementation and (b) Cortex-A9 Dual Core - Hard Macro Implementations] – the source article does not specify what flavor will be built into the iPad yet given the current iPad processor speeds it’s almost certain that Apple will go with a 2GHz version.

Previous article on the original iPad Processor: A4 Chip

There is a leaked Best Buy document outlining details about exclusive sales of the iPad at Best Buy Apple Stores. Hit the links below for source documents and see the text/images for a short summary.

Best Buy’s Apple iPad Sales Playbook:
Apple is launching their new iPad on staturday, April 3 and best buy Stores with Apple Shops (about 575 stores) will begin selling them on this day. A future solution for all Best Buy stores is being discussed. At the time of launch, these products won’t be sold on BestBuy.com. At the time of launch, the iPad will only be sold at Apple retail stores, Apple.com and Best Buy Apple Shops.

April 11 ad insert nationwide
On April 11, the iPad will be on the front cover of the ad for all stores even though al stores won’t be carying the units at launch. Stores that don’t carry the iPad at launch should direct customers to the nearest Best Buy Apple Shop.

Apple Ipad SKU List
Best Buy will be selling the following products in the Apple shops:

iPad Accessories

Source:

For the full write-up hit Engadget and Tuaw.

A short note on the iPad UK release date and prices – it’s a rumored leak via Geeky Gadgets (link below), so take the news with a grain of salt:

iPad WiFi Model UK Price List (all prices in Pound sterling)
1. iPad 16GB WiFi Model will go for £389
2. iPad 32GB WiFi model will go for £439
3. iPad 64GB WiFi model will go for £489

No word on 3G pricing though – given the delayed release date of the 3G models this is not surprising.


The article has a short note on a bit delayed UK shipping date (April ‘10) as well: http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/apple-ipad-to-cost-389-in-the-uk-25-02-2010/

The rumor of the day revolves around the article posted on Yahoo! news that Hulu might be charging the iPad users for access to its services:

A Hulu app created specifically for the iPad… and one that you have to pay for (and probably keep paying for over time, the good old cable TV model). (Think YouTube for the iPhone, but with a subscription fee attached.)

The original article can be found here.
I am not sure how this one is going to pan out – yet, if priced right (read: low) it may have a shot. On the other hand, the offering will directly compete with the same content offered via iTunes and I am sure Apple is not going to like this. Let the fun begin…

I am not going to elaborate on this one a lot.

In short, as most of us expected, Google will respond to the iPad with a product running Android/Chrome OS – below are a couple of conceptual images as posted on Google’s site.

I am quoting what’s posted on the site:

This page contains visual explorations of how a Chrome OS tablet UI might look in hardware. Some possibilites they explore include:

• Keyboard interaction with the screen: anchored, split, attached to focus.
• Launchers as an overlay, providing touch or search as means to access web sites.
• Contextual actions triggered via dwell.
• Zooming UI for multiple tabs
• Tabs presented along the side of the screen (see Side tabs)
• Creating multiple browsers on screen using a launcher

If you haven’t been overwhelmed by rumors here is a good one for you. TechCrunch (will post link later, as the TC site is down) reports that Apple forged an alliance (should we call it a joint venture?) with BN to deliver book, newspaper and magazine content to iPad devices. I am not sure how does the NOOK fit into this gambit but this one as well may turn out to be true. Watch out Kindle (oh, well, kind of)…

Fake or true? An alleged iPad ad surfaced today:

There seems to be a lot of buzz about Apple potentially replacing Google as the default search provider on the upcoming tablet (oh, should I say iSlate – it’s just so hard to adopt that name) – Anyhow, the rumor mills are spinning option that Bing will be replacing big G as the default search provider. To put a cherry on the top there is a rumor that the Apple Search Engine is in the works – I would not be surprised if this was true, many have tried, many…

Finally, here is the invite cover for the Yerba Buena (Jan 27 2010) event:
(image property of CNET):

Several visitors have brought to my attention that it’s unlikely that Apple’s new device is going to be named the iPad as Hewlett Packard supposedly own the trademark for the name. I’ve done a quite of digging on this subject and I am yet to find an evidence of this somewhere on the web. Apparently HP iPAD was registered at the same time when they registered name iPAQ (If my memory serves me correctly it was Compaq iPAQ not HP iPAQ that first hit the market) – while this may make sense I seriously doubt that such a big company with wide palette of products and trade names would go down this path. Anyhow, I never liked the device it was clunky and hard to use, I had a lot of potential but that stupid Windows CE was always a turn off for me. For our younger readers here is the link for the site featuring this dinosaurus (HP iPAD, I mean, come on? REALLY?)