UPDATE: Stevie J – when you get the internet in your hands, you’re gonna want an iPad.

I want to give credit up front to gdgt for the pics.  Ryan and Peter(?) did a great job with their coverage.  The pics were/are awesome.

The prices are going to enable many more to get one than I originally thought, but I don’t know how attractive the pricing model is going to be to the MASSES over time.  I’m going to turn this over to the rest of the JAMM team now and let them chime in with their notes, thoughts and comments.

Go JAMM Team!!!

UPDATE:  Accessories!!  Keyboard dock! Charges and holds the device. Awesome!

Pic courtesy of live.gdgt.com

UPDATE:  Here comes the pricing…

Apple is announcing aggressive pricing.  Cost goals have been met.

iPad pricing starts at $499!  Huge BOMBSHELL!!

$829 – for 64GB with 3G

Pic courtesy of live.gdgt.com

iPads with Wi-Fi only will ship in 60 days.  3G models will ship in 90 days.

iPad syncs with iTunes via USB like the iPhone and iPod.  Now they are getting to wireless…

The iPad WILL have Cellular 3G!

iPad owners will have 2 choices for wireless plans

250MB for $14.99

Unlimited for $29.99

Pic courtesy of live.gdgt.com

AT&T is still providing wireless 3G. Deal includes Wi-Fi hot spots.  Activation can be done via the iPad and does NOT require a contract. Can go month to month, and you can cancel AT ANY TIME!

All iPads are unlocked and use GSM microSIMs.

Pages and Numbers… Pretty cool productivity apps… $10 bucks each?!?  Pretty cool.

Pic courtesy of live.gdgt.com

Pic courtesy of live.gdgt.com

UPDATE: Reworked iWork for the iPad. New UI, to allow you to create productivity docs on the iPad.  Interesting.  Reworked Keynote (PowerPoint equivalent) is completely touch enabled.  A physical keyboard and mouse are NOT needed to create presentations.  Tap and slide – tap and slide.  Not completely sold, but it could be very cool…

Full support for video and animations. Very cool…

UPDATE:  Steve is now showing the iPad’s eBook capabilities.  New app – iBook. Color, multi-pages, book shelf, adjustable fonts.  Completely awesome.

Pic courtesy of live.gdgt.com

UPDATE:  Apple is moving away from the specs and is switching to content. NYT is now taking the stage and will be talking about their plans for the iPad.

Price – TWiT is thinking that prices will run from $599 to $999.  Though the $1k price tag may be too expensive.

I agree. If Apple wants these in everyone’s hands, they need to make this thing uber-affordable.

The internet is really getting bogged down.  There are a lot of people trying to get in on the live audio/video streams.  Things are VERY choppy.

UPDATED: “We built the iPad to run virtually every one of these apps unmodified right out of the box. We can do that in two ways — do it with pixel for pixel accuracy in a black box, or we can pixel-double and run them in full-screen. This is really cool.”

UPDATED: Screen – 9.7" IPS screen (same as KindleDX), 1gHz processor, less than 1/2 thick, 64GB flash storage.  Wi-Fi 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, 10 hours of battery life.

IT DOES NOT SEEM TO HAVE CELLULAR BROADBAND.

UPDATED:  The iPad supports HD video – “Let me show you video, it looks wonderful.” Showing HD YouTube playback…

Pic courtesy of live.gdgt.com

Audio and video seem WONDERFUL from the device.  This is just a taste of what the iPad can do.  "Watching is nothing like getting one in your hands!"

UPDATED: (via gdgt) …iTunes store. The UI on this thing is pretty intense, so far. Everything is familiar, but it’s all totally different from iPhone and OS X — this is a big launch for Apple.

UPDATED:  “iPad is an awesome way to enjoy your music collection. And, of course, we have the iTunes store built right into the iPad.”

Pic courtesy of live.gdgt.com

UPDATE: The tablet is called the iPad.

"Email with a giant on-screen keyboard: “It’s a dream to type on.”

"Its so much more intimate…"

Pic courtesy of live.gdgt.com

UPDATE: They are reviewing past product introductions, indicating how awesome Apple as a mobile device/content company is.

Apple is building on these products, and the speaker is hinting at a 3rd category of device (laptop, vs. Smartphone, vs…)

"Netbooks aren’t better at anything."  Awesome quote.

"Netbooks are cheap laptops and aren’t good at anything."

UPDATE:

Jason Chen:

…is going to talk about some other updates. A few weeks ago, Apple sold their 250 millionth iPod.

Ended Q1 with $50B in revenue.  Revenue comes from Mac, iPod, and iPhone.

UPDATE:  The lights are going down, and the event is beginning…

If you have the time, or background bandwidth and your office doesn’t block streaming audio or video, you can check out the Apple Event LIVE on TWiT. They have Leo Leport live on the phone while they are yackin’ it up, buring time before the start of the event.  I’ll to be as "live" as possible with some of this stuff… Stay tuned to JAMM for the hot news!!

Live TWiTs!!

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