was watching the real-time launch of the ipad last night 2am on cnbc. just an example of how big the news was, cnbc had done a split screen so they could cover this (ipad launch) and the congress live hearing of us treasury sec timothy geithner simultaneously. it is really disconcerting to see geithner being interrogated in court and humbled before congressmen and representatives with regards to the disclosure scandals following government bailout of AIG in ‘08. we all know the bailout of AIG was neccessary; markets will never recover from such a huge failure, but i suppose if i were an american taxpayer, i would want the right to question whether initiatives and solutions bought with my money was justified, and that the bailout did not involve more of my money than was absolutely neccessary. does the average taxpayer consumer really feel the full effects of an all out systemic failure and violent reccession? that’s a question i am somehow glad we dont have an actual answer to, because we’ve got to realise we never really see how interconnected we are before it’s too late. this is probably a debate best left to conjectures, in my opinion. still, the decision-makers should be responsible and held accountable for the basis of their solution and absolute transparency and full disclosure must be awarded to all stakeholders.
APPLE IS TAKING OVER THE WORLD! have we not seen enough giants fail yet? have we not learnt our lesson yet when it comes to private sector giants? look how everyone bitched when the government had to step in to bail out automobile giants like General Motors?
with the latest launch of the iPad, i see history repeating itself. you’re talking about apple close to monopolising almost conpletely the electronics industry: MP3 players, smartphones, computers, handheld video devices..pretty soon EVERYONE out there would be using apple products for everything. what’s next? digital cameras? household appliances? how would you like an apple iFridge? you can have a touch screen panel that shows the level of milk left in the bottle. slide your finger across the panel and you can see how much ice is left in the icebox. do a twisting motion with thumb and forefinger, more ice will be made!
dont get me wrong, apple products have the design and aesthetic to inspire such a huge consumer following. i think it has come a point when you slap a white plastic cover and a silver 2d apple with a mouthful bitten out on anything, it will probably sell like hotcakes.
i am really looking forward to the next big thing apple’s gonna come out with. maybe a apple gaming console? think about it!! all the apps you could download…the possibilities are endless.
i just hope jobs does a good job of managing company finances, we’ve seen enough bailouts so far and with the potential of apple, a future failure could most probably be catastrophic.
i for one, own 1 nano ipod, which runs out of juice so often and i get so pissed converting music files to iTunes format i ‘ve long since given up using it. also, my personal ban on iphone stands. blackberry forever man!
See this on bloomberg:
Apple’s Jobs Unveils $499 Tablet Device Named IPad (Update1)
Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) — Apple Inc., seeking to revolutionize the publishing business in the same way the iPod transformed the music industry, unveiled a tablet computer starting at $499, a price that was 50 percent lower than some analysts predicted.
The iPad can display full Web pages, books and iPhone applications, and has a touch-screen keyboard, Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs said today at a company event in San Francisco. The product will come in two versions: one with just a Wi-Fi connection and another that also uses third-generation mobile-phone service. Apple rose in Nasdaq trading after the announcement, erasing an earlier decline.
“At that price, they’ll sell millions,” said Hakim Kriout, a portfolio manager at New York-based Grigsby & Associates, which owns Apple shares. “It’s very, very affordable for what it does. This is going to add a huge revenue stream for Apple.”
Jobs, 54, has spent the past decade transforming the maker of the Mac computer into a consumer-electronics juggernaut. The iPad builds on the digital media and mobile technology behind Apple’s market-leading iPod and the iPhone, and will challenge dedicated e-book readers from Amazon.com Inc. and Sony Corp.
‘Magical and Revolutionary’
The iPad is “our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price,” Jobs said. The iPad, which has a 9.7-inch (25-centimeter) color screen, is half an inch thick and weighs 1.5 pounds (0.7 kilograms). It will go on sale in late March.
A 16-gigabyte version of the basic Wi-Fi model will sell for $499. A 32-gigabyte version will cost $599, and a 64- gigabyte device will be $699. The 3G models won’t be available until April. Those will range in price from $629 to $829.
Amazon.com’s Kindle, the market leader in electronic books, costs $259 for a version with a black-and-white 6-inch display. A model with a 9.7-inch screen costs $489. Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York, had predicted that the Apple tablet would cost about $750.
Sony’s most expensive e-reader, which has a wireless connection and a 7.1-inch screen, costs $399.99. Smaller models sells for $299.99 and $199.99.
Apple unveiled an electronic-book reader application for the iPad and is opening an e-book store. Pearson Plc’s Penguin, Harper Collins Publishers, CBS Corp.’s Simon & Schuster, Macmillan and Hachette Book Group have already signed deals to offer electronic books on the iPad.
Drew Herdener, a spokesman for Seattle-based Amazon.com, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Stock Climbs
Apple, based in Cupertino, California, rose $1.94 to $207.88 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares, which more than doubled last year, climbed to a record $215.04 earlier this month on speculation that the tablet was coming.
The device runs the more than 140,000 applications already available for the iPhone and iPod Touch. It works with wireless service from AT&T Inc., the U.S. carrier for the iPhone, though no contract is required.
There will be two iPad wireless data plans from AT&T in the U.S. One will cost $14.99 and give users up to 250 megabytes of data downloads. The other will have unlimited data and cost $29.99. The company is also working on adding international wireless plans.
‘Gigantic Win’
The device, made of aluminum and glass, can display maps from Google Inc., and has calendar and address-book functions. The iPad has a 1-gigahertz chip that was custom designed by Apple and battery life of 10 hours, Jobs said.
“The fact that there’s more flexibility in this device is going to give it a pretty significant competitive advantage over Amazon’s device,” said Michael Yoshikami, an analyst at Walnut Creek, California-based YCMNet Advisors. “The price is a gigantic win. The non-3G model at $499 is very surprising.”
Jobs, who had a liver transplant last year, looked healthier during the presentation, Yoshikami said.
“He looked better than the last time he appeared,” Yoshikami said. “He seemed enthusiastic and it frankly didn’t really strike me — I didn’t even think about it.”
More than 60 million Apple shares changed hands today. That follows trading yesterday of 66.7 million shares and marks the two busiest days for Apple’s stock in more than a year.
‘Is There Room?’
“The question has arisen lately: Is there room for a third category of device in the middle, something that’s between a laptop and smartphone,” Jobs said. “Those devices are going to have to be far better at doing some key tasks. What kind of tasks? Well, things like browsing the Web, doing e-mail, enjoying and sharing photographs, watching videos, playing games.”
Apple executives in the audience included Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook and marketing vice president Phil Schiller. Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, an Apple board member, was also at the event.
Apple, which reported a 32 percent jump in holiday sales this week, relies on the Mac for about a quarter of its revenue. The iPhone brought in about a third of sales last quarter, while the iPod represented 22 percent of revenue. Apple has sold 250 million iPods, Jobs said today.
Demand for Apple’s traditional iPod music players is falling as consumers switch to multifunction devices like the iPod Touch, which has Wi-Fi support, and smartphones that can also play music and video, like the iPhone. IPod shipments fell 8 percent last quarter to 21 million units. Sales of the iPod Touch rose 55 percent.
Apple is releasing a new software development kit for creating iPad applications, though existing iPhone programs will run on the device without being modified.
The iPad should create “a whole other gold rush” for developers, said Scott Forstall, a senior vice president in charge of iPhone software. Apple plans to highlight programs developed specifically for the iPad on its App Store.
