If you are anything like me and keep a weathered eye on the technological horizon, you will be very excited about the launch of Apple's latest gadget, the iPad (you may even have one already). This incredible item has really pushed the boundaries in touch screen technology and is just downright cool to play with.
So, what is the Apple iPad all about? Here are some facts from The Independent on the basic specs of this amazing piece of machinery and will give you a good idea on what to expect.
The iPad is about the size of a piece of paper, 0.5 inches (1.3-cm) thick and weighs 1.5 pounds (0.7 kilograms). It has a 9.7-inch (24.6-cm) colour LED-display screen that allows for video viewing in high-definition. There are three versions, each with 16, 32 or 64 gigabytes of flash memory and has a battery life of up to ten hours from a single charge. It runs almost all of the 140,000 applications for the iPod Touch and iPhone available in Apple's App Store and has a virtual touchscreen keyboard with the ability to hook up an external physical keyboard.
Now that you know a little bit more about the aspects of the iPad, here are a few things you can do with it according to AppleInsider:
- Mail including MobileMe, Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, Hotmail, and AOL.
- Viewing and storing photos as well as being used as a digital photo frame while it is docked or charging.
- Watching HD movies, TV shows, podcasts and music videos as well as any YouTube videos.
- With the iTunes application, the iPad syncs with your existing iTunes library on Mac or PC via a USB cable.
- The iPad supports 140 000 applications on the App Store that can be accessed directly from the iPad.
- The iBooks application allows you to download your favourite books and read them digitally.
- Google Maps with Street View.
- The regular admin apps such as contacts, notes and calendar.
So, you know what the iPad offers and you know about the specs, but you are still wondering if it is the right tool for you. Let's take a look at who the major buyers of the iPad are.
From Y! Mobile Blog, Apple iPad User Analysis - Phase II (July 2010)
The age distribution of iPad users. Image Credit: Y! Mobile Blog
The age distribution of iPad users. Image Credit: Y! Mobile Blog
From comScore, iPad Matches Amazon Kindle in Awareness and Purchase Intent (March 2010)
comScore research indicates that even though the iPad supports thousands of applications, media consumption is at the top of the list:
- 37% of users read the news.
- 34% read books.
- 60% of consumers are browsing the Web.
- 36% watch videos.
Media consumption on the iPad. Image Credit: comScore
From ReadWriteWeb, Stats: iPad Users Consume 3X Videos as Other Users (April 2010)
- The iPad is now the 5th most popular mobile device in terms of unique users, trailing only the iPhone, iPod Touch, SymbianOS, and Android (in that order).
- iPad users consume 3X as many videos as Web users.
- iPad users spend 4X as long watching videos as Web users.
- iPad users consume 5X as many videos as iPhone users.
From DesignTaxi, AdColony Releases iPad User Survey Demographics (April 2010)
- 58% of iPad owners have Bachelor's degrees or graduate/professional degrees.
- 44.3% earn a household income level of $100,000 or greater.
- Of iPad users, over 48.7% own iPod touches, 43.0% own iPhones, and over 27.2% own Blackberry devices.
And if that isn't enough information to help you decide, these figures will prove just how popular the iPad really is.
From AppleInsider, Apple announces iPad sales top 1 million in less than a month (May 2010)
- Apple sold 1 million iPads in only 28 days.
- 12 million apps from the App Store and over 1.5 million e-books from the new iBookstore have already been downloaded.
- The Wi-Fi-only model, released on 3 April 2010, sold more than 300,000 in its first day alone.
- 450 000 iPads were sold in the first five days.
- Half a million units were sold in the first week in the US alone.
- To date 1 803 055 iPads have been sold worldwide.
Also check out:
- Friday Fact Box - The iPhone
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