apple.ism

So unless one has been living under a rock, everyone has heard of the new product Apple announced today - the iPad.

Apple has the keynote up online now, which can be found here. There is also now the page apple.com/ipad, which features the demo video of the iPad, as well as information about the device. You can even sign up to get notified of when the device will start shipping (60 days from today).

The base facts of the iPad (which is, by far, the worst name they could have given it-were there no focus groups for this?!?)

• 9.7 inch LED-backlit IPS display
• Capacitative multi-touch
• 1024x768 resolution at 132 PPI
• 1.5 lbs, .5 inches thin
• 10 hours battery life
• 802.11n WiFi
• Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR
• Separate WiFi and 3G models
• 3G model will be supplied with AT&T 3G data ($14.99 for 250MB, $29.99 unlimited)
• Apple A4 1 GHz chip powered processor
• 16, 32, 64GB flavors
• Starting at $499, $599, $699 for WiFi models, 3G will be an additional $130 on top of starting WiFi price
• WiFi only model will start shipping in March, 3G model in April
• Accelerometer
• Syncs via USB to iTunes
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• Built-in speaker
• Microphone
• SIM card tray

This is the basics, there's more that can be found at http://apple.com/ipad/specs. It will be able to run iPhone apps in regular resolution or full screen, straight out-of-the-box. You can even customize the background of it. So it's pretty much a hybrid of iPhone OS with Mac OS X. The UI for Mail and Calendar are much improved over the iPhone versions, though it looks similar. Maybe this can find its way into iPhone OS 4.0. It is also going to have the iBook app, which will allow the purchase of ebooks from Apple's own digital bookstore (Kindle killer, anyone?).

The disappointing thing is there is no multitasking (as of yet), no cameras, and the name...but that's not the point.

Like with the 1st gen iPhone, there are some things that are missing, so it would probably be better to wait til the 2nd gen. Not to mention that the iPhone 1st gen got a price drop only months after being introduced - maybe the same fate will await the iPad - we'll see.

It's been confirmed by several big tech blogs that have received their invites to the Apple Media Event which will take place on Jan. 27, 10 a.m PST at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

Then we can finally be rid of all the speculation and rumors once and for all.

Apple announced on Tuesday that the App Store has passed 3 billion downloads since the launch back in 2008. This is one billion more downloads since September 2009. 

In just a matter of three months, the company has served 2 billion downloads, with the huge increase of iPod Touch and iPhone sales during the holidays helping out, no doubt. 

With 3 billion downloads, this means that Apple serves up 10.1 million app downloads per day for the last 99 days, according to reports. This is a much bigger increase over the 6.9 million downloads a day between April and July, 2009.

“Three billion applications downloaded in less than 18 months — this is like nothing we’ve seen before,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs said. Jobs called the App Store “unlike anything else available on other mobile devices” with “no signs of the competition catching up soon," cites Cult of Mac.

It was only last July, on the 1 year birthday of the App Store, in which there were 1.5 billion downloads, with the number of apps growing to 100,000 by the end of 2009.

It's already known that the App Store has become a huge success, catching everyone off guard, even the early investors. It's even been said that Apple would have been happy with even a fraction of the 2 billion downloads in October 2009.

With a brand new year in place, analysts now predict that there could be as many as 300,000 apps in the App Store by the end of the year.