Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced their lastest creation iPad the day before, which was positioned as a brand new category between the iPhone and a MacBook laptop. Among the device’s many bells and whistles are Bluetooth, wireless and cellular network connectivty, multiple memory sizes to choose from at various prices and the ability to play all the applications currently available through Apple’s online store. Then we may get the key of this product: Apple iPad is specially customized for Apple’s online stores rather than a sleek hardware.

“Announcements of this magnitude from Apple are almost never about the hardware,” said independent technology analyst Carmi Levy. “The hardware is a hook to the wider ecosystem.” That is to say Apple iPad not only roles a hardware provider but also a service provider in the later time. And the latter actually is their ultimate goal.

Besides, amidst the hype of the iPad unveiling were sevearl far more important announcements: by launching iBooks, a digital bookshop in its iTune store, Steve Jobs has his sight set on competitors such as Amazon, positioning the iPad as a direct competitor to Amazon’s Kindle book-reader.

As for Apple iPad can’t handle multitasking, it is unlikely to replace products such as the laptop. Somebody said that it is more like a very large iPod Touch.

iPad specs :
1/2 inch thin
1.5 pounds
9.7 inch display
10-hour battery life
Runs almost all of the 140,000 apps in Apple’s app store
The iPad handles multi-touch input, meaning users can interact with it using more than one finger on the screen at the time.
It runs on a 1-gigahertz chip, and comes with between 16 and 64 gigabytes of flash storage.
Among its capabilities are wi-fi, Bluetooth, speakers, an accelerometer and a compass.
$499 (U.S.) for a 16-gigabyte model, $599 (U.S.) for a 32 GB version, $699 (U.S.) for a 64-gigabyte model with Wi-Fi only.
It will cost an additional $130 for units that use 3G, making the most expensive model $829 (U.S.)
AT&T will charge $29.99 a month for “unlimited use” and $14.99 a month for up to 250 megabytes