AAPL Apple Inc:The iPad, Hit or Miss? by Moon Suk Chang

Apple gears up to release its latest line, the iPad, but will their latest be a “revolutionary device” as Apple promises, or just an Apple’s version of NetBook?
 
As always, Apple has come up with yet another product line hoping to set a new trend within the digital market like the iPods and iPhones before it: the iPad. Measuring at 7.47 inches wide, with a thickness of 0.5 inches, and a height of 9.56 inches, the iPad comes at a size that can be roughly compared to the standard magazine size we are all accustomed to.

iPhone users will be familiar with the interfaces along the edges of the iPad, which also features a 30-pin dock connector on the bottom, speaker and volume control on the side, and a headphone and microphone jack on the top. The iPad, which has a battery life of up to ten hours, also comes with the latest wireless LAN card and Bluetooth 2.1, as well as a compass. (Yes. A compass.)  Additionally, different iPad devices come with a range of memory storage capabilities varying in price, with 16GB, 32GB and 64GB availability amounting to $499, $599 and $699, respectively.
 
Most available iPhone and iPod applications are compatible with the iPad. In fact, an iPad’s features are more or less similar to an iPhone’s, with its functionality limited by its developer Apple to that of an iPhone’s operating system. However, the iPad does boast some superb functions, such as a multi-touch screen that makes the user feel as if they are literally moving or stretching content beneath the LED display.

Another noteworthy feature is the iPad’s on-screen keyboard, fitted nicely to allow seamless, effortless typing. In addition, the advent of the new iBook store could mean Apple’s new tablet computer would prove very handy for those who love to read as it allows all different sorts of reading material to be stored simultaneously in just one simple device.
 
The iPad, as stated by many critics, is seemingly a counterpart to the NetBook family which largely uses Microsoft operating systems. The iPad would subsequently have a difficult time penetrating the downsized notebook market due to its higher price range, limited software availability and storage space.  But have critics misunderstood the whole concept behind Apple’s iPad?

First of all, the market growth for Apple applications–as well as iBook and iTunes–will definitely surge with the launch of the iPad. In addition, the iPad, unlike the NetBook where half its size is dedicated to keyboard and touchpad, allows full usage of its convenient-to-read 9.7-inch display.

 Users can thus enjoy previously impractical applications and a myriad of new possibilities. So critics perhaps need to think outside the box and realize the iPad’s potential and not categorize the iPad as another conventional gizmo of the digital market. Like its predecessors, the iPad could be classified in a class of its own and define a new generation of hi-tech gadgetry.

The item will ship huge numbers and deliver millions of new iTunes consumers.

Moon Suk Chang

IT Analyst Ebeling Heffernan

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