Is Amazon trying to trick would-be iPad buyers into buying a Kindle instead?
You’ll recognize the almost-iconic top image of Apple’s iPad 2 Smart Covers fanned out in all their colors. But what do you think of bottom one, found on Amazon’s home page beside a Father’s Day Kindle promo? Is Amazon trying to subliminally lure would-be iPad consumers over to the E-Ink side of the e-reader fence?
Oh how I love things like this: what better way to celebrate the coolest gadget on the market than to line the back in solid gold and the front in 75 million year old rock with bits of dinosaur bone in it. That’s what you’re looking at above: a £5 million iPad created by Stuart Hughes which will run you a bit over $8 million. But, at least you won’t have to wait the 4-5 week shipping time that Apple is currently advertising for a new iPad 2.
[via TUAW]
With all the chatter about the iPad 2, it’s hard for a geeky guy not to get a little anxious. I was working exclusively as an e-book blogger when the iPad 1 came out, so I pre-ordered it and was awaiting the UPS guy on the Saturday it was first available. In the months–not quite a year yet–since, my iPad has been my constant companion, my do-everything machine, my best digital friend.
Frankly, it was dismaying to witness the introduction of the iPad 2, with its faster processor, way cooler, magnetic Smart Cover, sleeker, lighter design, and two-color-availability. How could I not want one of these things?
Except, I don’t think the iPad 2 does anything I’d want to do that I can’t do with my iPad 1. I use my iPad as an e-reader, calendar, to-do list, word processor, occasional gaming device, and window onto the internet. I also use it to play music. I already do all of that with the iPad I have, so why do I need a new iPad to do the same things, if a little faster?
The truth is, I think I don’t…but I want a new iPad, just cause it’s shiny and pretty and has a way-cooler cover. But I’m not going to get one. Not while my old iPad is still pretty much state of the art. Did Apple rush the iPad 2 out to keep up with its competitors? Is just one year the whole life cycle of a gadget these days? What do you think? Is it iPad Too soon?
Unsurprisingly, everybody’s talking about the iPad 2 today. Here are a few blogs’ and journalists takes on it. Above, you’ll see Walt Mossberg of the WSJ giving his initial impressions right after the unveiling event yesterday.
Here’s a TUAW blogger on why he’ll be buying an iPad 2 after holding off on the iPad 1.
Here’s eBookNewser’s play-by-play of the Apple event.
A blogger or TechCrunch loves the iPad 2, noting it feels a lot like holding a Kindle.
Finally, in this post, Engadget offers some video and pics from the hands-on area Apple set up after the event. One video emphasizes how fast the new iPad is, even down to the page turns in iBooks.
What do you think? Gonna buy one on March 11?
iPad 2 and its clever new case/ cover in various colors. [via Engadget
At its media event today, Apple unveiled the iPad 2, which ships March 11. It’s got a bunch of new features, most notably a much thinner size (the new iPad is even thinner than the iPhone 4). It’s lighter, has a dual core processor (meaning its twice as fast as the iPad 1), front and back facing cameras, and the same battery life as the original iPad. It comes in both black and white, and in models that work with both the Verizon and AT&T networks for 3G connectivity. It will also support video output via an HDMI cable.
It’s an incremental update, nothing totally revolutionary, but a big update nonetheless, which will keep Apple competitive with the other tablets hitting the market. Pricing is similar to iPad 1: base 16 GB WiFi model for $499; 64 GB WiFi + 3G model for $829.
Steve Jobs opened the event with an update on iBooks, during which he noted that Random House is signing on with the store, bringing 17K e-books. He also said that over 100 million books had been downloaded through the store since its launch.
Apple also unveiled the next iteration of iOS, iOS 4.3, which includes features like the Photo Booth app and Face Time support. We’ll be back later with more details.
Follow along with the ongoing event at Engadet.
It’s going to be a big week for tablets. On Wednesday, March 2, Apple will hold its iPad 2 event, at which the company will show us what it’s got in store for the next model of the iPad. There’s lots of speculation. The image above, from the Web site BGR, is circulating around the tech blogs: it was hoped to be an illustration of the actual iPad 2, but seems, instead, to be an Apple’s fan’s imagining, according to TUAW (I frankly doubt Apple would design anything this square). There’s murmurs, too, that Apple will release this next iPad in both black and white models (see this post from MacRumors); ooooh.
Whatever Apple brings to the next iPad (a camera, better display, can opener), for the first time, the world’s most popular tablet has some actual competition: David Pogue of the NYT favorably reviewed Motorola’s entry into the tablet game, the Xoom, and he says that its operating system, a tablet-specific version of Google Android called Honeycomb, is “the real iPad competitor,” though he also notes its in some ways too complicated and counter-intuitive. But this is the OS that will power the throngs of tablets soon to hit the market.
We’ll have to wait and see whether Apple has anticipated Honeycomb’s advances and shortcomings. But whatever happens, this is going to be the year that the tablet becomes a product category, not just another name for the iPad. And that should mean more e-books, and e-books becoming more a part of readers’ way of life. And it’s likely to really get underway this week. Whoa…
Today’s
links!
Checking In: The Daily Beast checks in with the Strand to see how the New York used bookselling giant is doing.
O’Reilly’s E-Book Numbers: O’Reilly details its e-book sales numbers–they’re high!–in a blog post.
Vertical Integration: Kodansha and Dai Nippon are buying the small press Vertical books. From Anime New Network.
Can Scandinavian Crime Fiction Teach Us Socialism: That’s the headline of this Guardian article, and also the question it seeks to answer.
Katie Couric To Publish Book of Essays: Random House will publish Couric’s book called ‘The Best Advice I Ever Got.’ From the NYT.
iPad 2?: Images have surfaced of what is claimed to be the iPad 2. From Pocket-Lint.
Writers of the Future: Excerpts from a book of essays imagining the future of being a writer. From the Millions.
Apple has sent out a none-too-subtle invitation to a March 2 press event at which, as you can see above from the iPad peeking out from behind the iCal icon, the company is almost certain to unveil its next iteration of the iPad. Note, too, the slogan, a riff on the media tag that 2010 and 11 would each be the year of the tablet. Looks like Apple is pretty confident it won’t be the year of other companies’ tablets.
Rumors have been going around that the iPad 2 will be thinner, have an improved display, a camera, a faster processor and other enhancements–Apple’s always got some surprises, so we’ll keep you posted.
Rumors are flying that Apple will introduce the second iteration of its iPad in the coming weeks, and that it’s likely to go on sale as soon as March. And, according to some sources (such as MacRumors), Apple may even introduce a third iPad model as soon as September. So, we thought it might be a good time to conduct a little poll about the iPad:
