Just the Facts, Ma'am: the iPad

The next iPod, or Lisa? CmdrTaco hated the iPod. Waiting for his review of the iPad.

My colleague at Penn, John Mulhern, sent out a “just the facts” email concerning the iPad. I feel compelled to share it here, as it is the most hyperbole free description of the device I have seen so far. John’s great at that, although there is some Penn-specific information included. Without further ado:

Today (January 27) Apple announced the iPad, an iPhone OS-based product in a considerably larger form factor than the iPhone and iPod Touch. The iPad will begin shipping in late March, with the 3G/WWAN version shipping in late April.Design

The iPad is almost all screen, though the bezel is fairly wide. That screen is a fully capacitive multitouch 9.7-inch XGA (1024×768) in-plane switching (IPS) LCD. Though the aspect ratio is 4:3, the screen is technically HD since it has more than 720 pixels of vertical resolution.

Navigation and user interface is achieved by multi-touch gesturing (finger swipes, pinch-out zoom, etc.), extensive pop-up/drop-down menu options, and a virtual keyboard which fills the entire length of the lower screen.

The iPad weighs 1.5 pounds without WWAN/3G connectivity and 1.6 pounds with WWAN/3G connectivity included. It is approximately half an inch thick.

iPad input/output resembles a large iPod Touch. As such, it has a dock connector, 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack, built-in speakers, microphone, and a SIM card tray in the WWAN models. The SIM card tray is for 3FF SIMs, which aren’t the traditional size and aren’t backwards-compatible with normal SIMs.

Standard connectivity for the iPad includes 802.11b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1. The 802.11n standard was finalized in September 2009, so there is a chance that the iPad’s 802.11n connectivity will not work correctly without a firmware update. Information Systems & Computing (ISC) believes that Bluetooth is a relevant protocol for many users.

The iPad will ship with iPhone OS 3.2 and almost all current iPhone applications should be compatible with it. Over the next few months, ISC expects many of these applications to become iPad-savvy, with more effective use of the vastly greater number of pixels (over 5x) in the iPad. ISC expects the iPad to be compatible with University-centric services such as AirPennNet, Exchange and Zimbra, but this functionality will have to be confirmed.

Initial applications designed explicitly for the iPad include versions of Apple’s iWork suite (Pages word processor, Keynote presentation software, and Numbers spreadsheet); each will cost $10. The Mail application also has been significantly updated and now closely resembles the web-based version of Mail available to MobileMe users. The presence of this enhanced software indicates Apple’s intent for the iPad to move more into the content creation space versus the content viewing space occupied by the iPhone and iPod Touch.

A range of Apple-branded hardware accessories are available for the iPad, including a keyboard dock, a normal dock, a case, a camera connection kit which includes a USB connector and a Secure Digital card reader, and a USB power adapter.

Ordering Notes

Several considerations when ordering an iPad:

1) The iPad is available with 16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB of memory. Like the iPhone and the iPod Touch, the memory required varies widely depending upon the usage model. Particularly, HD video and other media content are factors that are expected to drive hard drive storage needs. ISC expects that average memory usage will be higher in the iPad than in the iPhone and iPod touch.

2) The iPad has a WWAN/3G connectivity option. In the United States, WWAN/3G equipped iPads can use AT&T’s 3G service on a no contract basis for about $15 for 250 MB a month or $30 for an unlimited monthly data plan. Since the iPad will ship unlocked, plans on other GSM providers are likely to become available.

Analysis

ISC sees the iPad as an extremely interesting device, with potential uses in many areas. Of significant interest to the University is the potential for use as a textbook delivery mechanism through the ePub standard and/or Apple’s forthcoming iBook Store content delivery system. Notably, Apple has been lining up various publishers to make their content available and optimized for iPad.