Photo Gallery Introducing the iPad
Guests lined up on Wednesday to gain entry to the Apple press event in San Francisco. Journalists kept their readers up to date on the event with live blogging and Twitter.
Like gold dust. A media pass to get into the much anticipated press conference. Apple had invited a select number of accredited journalists.
The stage was all set up for the grand entrance. Most of the audience expected the new product to be a tablet-style computer, something that would be an e-reader and a multimedia PC. Most fans were anticipating a kind of giant iPod.
Then Apple CEO Steve Jobs arrived and met these expectations with the new iPad.
Entire industries, such as music, film, media and gaming were waiting for the tablet.
Jobs demonstrated the device, which is a cross between an iPhone and a MacBook laptop.
The New York Times was the most prominent partner at the launch, with their new iPad app The publishers of the prestiguous newspaper have created a department just for this device.
A SPIEGEL ONLINE editor took a test drive of the iPad in MacWorld in San Francisco this week.
A virtual keyboard allows users to avail of functions of a classic laptop.
Jobs seemed to be having fun playing with the new toy.
Here Jobs stands in front of an image of himself and his former partner Steve Wozniak, with whom he famously formed Apple in a Silicon Valley garage.The iPad is the latest product from Apple, a company with zealous fans.
Apple has developed its own chip, the A4, for the device. The mobile device is designed to use less electricity without reducing performance.
The iPad can also play high-definition videos.
The device also has an integrated e-book function and Apple will be selling digital iBooks similarly to way it sells music via its iTunes store.
With the iPad, Apple is hoping to go up against Amazon.com's successful Kindle reading device.
The company is also taking on big gaming companies like Nintendo and Sony.
The iPad can also be used like an ordinary computer with the addition of a keyboard.
