iPad release announced and commercials!
Lots of iPad news this weekend! First off we saw that the iPad is now officially available for preorder from Apple on Friday of last week. Preoders are available starting March 12th, and 1st incarnations of the device itself will ship April 3rd. We know that Apple doesn’t announce a product until it is close to being done. They aren’t the type of company to announce a product just to grab headlines with some hot idea of the moment and then never follow through. However, this release date is surprisingly quick considering they just announced it a mere two months ago!
It was also something of a surprise to find out that there will be two versions released within a short time of each other. The first version will only support Wi-Fi and be available on the April 3rd release date. Another version which will support AT&T 3G wireless will be at some unspecified time later in April. Will the Wi-Fi only version be upgradable to support 3G later? It doesn’t seem so.
So what’s the holdup? Apple isn’t saying, however a small note on the apple web page may offer a clue.
Blame the delay on the FCC I guess. The 3G+WiFi version will cost a good bit more than the WiFi only version, so presumably this isn’t a short term measure, but there will be two versions available from this point forward. The real question is, which one will be more popular. I’m not sure about that. On the one hand, I can’t see spending $500 on a device that isn’t truly mobile. On the other, it looks like the iPad may be somewhat big to be truly mobile. Only time will tell which is the better form factor. I do expect them to merge the two models at some point in the future though.
Apple has never been one to do things quietly, and they sure came out with a bang by showing off a new iPad commercial during the Acadamy Awards Sunday night. Since the superbowl is passed, the Oscar’s the next big high profile television event, and it targets a totally different audience. Smart on Apple’s part? Very.
There are a ton of things I don’t like about Apple, the iPad and their stranglehold on content through iTunes. But, for now, I have to give them kudos for making a nice splash this weekend.
3G. WiFi, Apple, AT&T, iPad
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