Jobs brings the tablet down from the mountain top

Apple seems to have cracked open several markets with its device, writes KARLIN LILLINGTON

“COME SEE our latest creation” read the most desired invitation in the geek world, Apple’s siren song for its latest, mysterious product.

And last night, Apple finally revealed what the creation is: the iPad (money had been on the name being the iSlate, so score one to Apple for keeping it a secret until the last moment).

This is definitely the device to finally bring tablet computers – laptops with touchscreen interfaces – to a public reluctant to embrace them. In part this has been because the existing tablet PCs have not fully delivered on their promise for ease of use, but also consumers have not seen a clear advantage from paying a premium price for a tablet.

But Apple clearly has cracked it. The company has built on all it has learned about making iPhone and iPod Touch users happy – reflected in excellent financial results announced earlier this week – and built a genuinely groundbreaking device.

Thanks to the iPhone and many “me too” copycat efforts by other handset companies, there’s now a huge market that not only understands but has a full-blown love affair with “apps” – tiny downloadable applications featuring anything from games to reading material to a program that tracks your daily bicycle rides to work and home. The iPad can run any app from Apple’s App Store, said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs during his presentation. Bingo: a readymade market that knows what a tablet can be used for right away.

Very significantly, the device is also designed to play games, a sector in which Apple has always been a small player due to the limited market for its Macintosh computers (they attract fewer than 10 per cent of computer users). But games are huge on the iPhone and iPod Touch, and gamers will likely love a large-screen experience for their game apps.

As expected, the device is also an e-reader for poring over newspapers, magazines and books. Going by Jobs’s demonstration, the reading experience gives a book-like experience likely to woo those not sure yet that they want to read on screen. It will be a formidable competitor in the fast-growing e-reader market kick-started last year by devices such as Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s Reader.

Apple may very likely be throwing a lifesaver to the broader media and publishing markets, too, with its iBook Store, also announced last night. Jobs singlehandedly whipped the music industry into digital shape by convincing them they could sell songs through the iTunes Store. I’d expect to see moves towards subscription models for online newspaper and magazine content, which would stabilise business models for media companies.

But significantly, the iPad is also a laptop, and can be used to write documents (though an onscreen touch keyboard may prove to be a bit clumsy as well as un-ergonomic), make slide presentations, create spreadsheets, view photos, send and receive e-mail, and of course, browse the web.

So do I want it?

Heck, yeah. It’s the device I have been waiting for: the iPad is lightweight (at 1.5 lbs), thin and small, perfect for travel. It is also, going by all the evidence, a properly converged device (at last!) – meaning it looks like it will do many computer, handset, gaming device, and e-reader things well, rather than being primarily one of those devices that can do other things in a slapdash, compromised way.

This is a device millions are going to want, because they have already embraced doing so many of the things the iPad does. But the iPad can do even more things, on a larger scale, and at a surprisingly reasonable price.

With the iPad, Apple scoops up a number of separate markets and says, Come get all this in one place for less than you’d pay for the two or three other devices you’d need otherwise.

It’s another game changer for Apple.

SAY HELLO TO THE iPAD: EIGHT KEY FEATURES

It features a 9.7in (24.6cm) display with a touchscreen Qwerty keyboard which appears on screen when required.

Powered by a 1GHz Apple A4 chip, the iPad weighs just 1.5lb (680g).

It includes a speaker, microphone, accelerometer, compass, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity and promises a 10-hour battery life.

iPad can run almost all of the iPhone's apps, downloaded from the iTunes store – allowing users to synchronise their existing apps.

It can also be used as an electronic reader (eReader).

Prices for the iPad will start from $499 (€355), with the highest-spec 64GB version at $829 (€590).

The Wi-Fi version of the iPad will be available in two months and the 3G model in about three months.