Apple dalam waktu 2 bulan akan meluncurkan produk gadget baru yang berfungsi untuk menjembatani kekurangan gadget dengan fungsi dan ukuran antara Smartphone (iPhone) dengan Laptop.

Gadget dasar iPad dilengkapi dengan WiFi dan memory 16 GB dan harga US$ 499.-. Perangkat ini dapat dilengkapi dengan keyboard, memory sampai 64 GB, dan akses ke jaringan 3G dengan tambahan biaya. Versi terlengkap iPad dihargai US$829.-

Pada iPad juga dapat dipasang Apple Apps untuk membaca ebooks, yaitu iBook. Dengan layar yang cukup lebar, maka membaca ebook akan lebih nyaman bagi pelanggan dari pada memakai iPod atau iPhone.

Berita lengkapnya ada disisn:

“When we set out to develop the iPad, we not only had specific technical goals and user interface goals, but an aggressive price goal, because we want to put this in the hands of a lot of people,” Mr. Jobs says.

Mr. Jobs says Apple has met its cost goals: The iPad’s pricing starts at $499. (Which means, at the very least, there is little reason to buy the much more limited Amazon Kindle DX.)

For $499, you get 16 GB of storage, with WiFi built-in. For $599, you get 32 GB of storage. For $699, you get 64 GB of storage.

The 3G models cost an extra $130 each.

So all told, there are six models of the new iPad. The most eexpensive 64 GB model, with 3G, costs $829 plus the monthly charge.

There will be two 3G plans for iPad owners. The first one, for up to 250 MB of data a month, will cost $14.99 per month. For unlimited data, its $29.99 a month.

“We have a breakthrough deal with AT&T, who is providing the service,” Mr. Jobs says. No Verizon Wireless, it appears.

He says iPad owners will also get free access to AT&T hotspots. Let’s all hope that AT&T solves its network issues before this thing hits it.

No contract — you can cancel the plan anytime you want.

International wireless deals will be coming by June. All the iPad 3G models are unlocked, and use the new GSM micro-SIMs, so it will be easy to put iPads on those networks.

Now Mr. Jobs is talking about iWork on the iPad, and Phil Schiller, Apple’s chief marketing executive, is on stage to talk about it.

There’s a new version of Keynote, Apple’s presentation software, and Pages, its word processor, and Numbers, its spreadsheet creator, all tailored to a gesture-based input device. All of Apple’s productivity software looks workable on the iPad — I’m just not sure why people would want to do this kind of work on a keyboard-less device.

Mr. Jobs has put anAmazon.com Kindle on the stage and says Amazon has done a great job of pioneering that. “But we are going to stand on their shoulders and go a bit farther.”

He’s showing a new app, called iBooks.

This is significant for the publishing industry: Apple is going to try to control the e-book experience itself. A new iBooks store is integrated with the iBooks app, allowing people to discover and purchase

Five of the largest publishers — Penguin, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan and Hachette — are supporting the app. No mention of Random House, yet. But that’s probably just a matter of time.

The iBooks store looks neat — plenty of colors, vivid book covers. Mr. Jobs is showing “True Compass” by Edward Kennedy, a book that was not available in the Kindle store for weeks after its release.

Changing pages, zooming to the table of contents, color, video, is very easy, Mr. Jobs says.

Needless to say, Apple and Amazon are on a collision course. Media (books, music, video) constitute half of Amazon’s revenues, and it won’t go down without a fight.

Apple uses the ePub format, the most popular open book format in the world. It’s unclear what digital rights management they are using and whether these books will be transferable to other devices that support ePub, like the Barnes & Noble and Sony e-readers.