Sowmya's first ever Technology Byte

The iPad

http://www.apple.com/ipad/#video
(You can also watch the keynote at apple.com)

If you keep up with online gadget rumors at all, you know that for the past few months, there's been all that fuss about Apple coming out with a tablet. People have gone nuts imagining what this new device would probably look like and coming up with clever names for it.
Well, they can pretty much relax now because just few days ago, Apple unveiled their brand new multimedia device, the iPad. When I say unveil, I mean that they've only just showed everyone what it is. We won't actually get to buy until late March.

The iPad is supposed to be this iPhone/laptop intermediate device which combines the "best of both worlds" (though I do currently fail to see how this is possible, considering it has neither phone capabilities nor a keyboard). It also seems to slightly resemble ebook readers such as the Kindle and Nook which have gained a lot of popularity recently. The iPad has obviously generated a lot of excitement, being the first completely new thing after the iPhone, which was tremendously successful. Of course, there are those who voice their complaints about it already, though they all (myself included) secretly want one. If you watch the intro video about the iPad, you will see that it's clearly an amazing piece of technology. And it's made by Apple, so it'll be pretty freaking gorgeous as well.

It's clear that Apple has played on the two things that have really put their product at the top: The multitouch interface and the App Store. Everyone who owns an iPhone will personally attest to the fact that the touch capabilities of the device are unparalleled. Other phones have tried to emulate the touch screen, but the iPhone's screen is lightyears ahead. I personally own an iPod touch with a screen that, people say, is slightly less responsive than the iPhone's, and I am still impressed with how well it works (even today, three years after I bought it).
Other companies like Microsoft Zune have also tried to come up with their own App Stores, and they've all pretty much failed. The App Store proved to be a great way third party companies could gain access to the massive the iPhone/iPod touch clientele.

So it was pretty obvious that in its newest device, Apple wasn't going to do away with the two things that had worked so well for it. But one new thing Apple has made sure to do is to emphasize that even the first generation iPad is going to be reasonably priced. They're clearly acting preemptively against what they think customers are going to do: wait. Everyone remembers how when the iPhone came out, it was like 6 or 700 bucks. And buying it when it was first released involved waiting in huge lines in front of an Apple store. Some people, to avoid the rush, even shelled out more than $1200 to buy one on eBay. And within a few months, the price dove by a couple of hundred and those people were probably kicking themselves (Apple tried to placate everyone by giving them all $100 in store credit). Now, providing you're willing to lock into a pricey monthly plan with AT&T, you can get an iPhone for $99. So if people have learned anything from this, it's that they should probably wait at least a little while after the release of a brand new Apple product since the price will almost definitely go down quickly. It's clear that Apple has anticipated this, so they're introducing the iPad for a "reasonable" $499 and have suggested that the price won't be going down significantly thereafter. But we'll just have to wait and see.