Appearing in his standard black turtleneck and jeans, Steve Jobs, the master-mind behind iPod, iPhone and iPad showed up on stage to a standing ovation in San Francisco Wednesday. Looked gaunt but energetic as before, his presence seems to send a message that he’s not dying as reported by paparazzi and is still in command and play an active role as far as Apple’s toys are concerned. He unveiled iPad 2, the second generation of its iPad tablet.

Steve Jobs was proud that his gadget commands 90% market share and made a joke that if 2010 was the “year of the iPad,” the year 2011 is obviously “the year of the copycats.”, referring to many of its competitors’ tablets following suit in particular Motorola’s recent release of Xoom and BlackBerry’s coming Playbook. With sales of 15 million units, the first generation iPad was already a runaway best seller so Apple doesn’t really have to sweat too much but to enhance iPad 2 here and there to get people excited, again.

 

So, here’re the things unveiled during the live coverage from San Francisco:

1)            Steve Jobs said there’re 200 million accounts in Apple’s store system and has paid over $2 billion to developers developing and selling their applications on the App Store.

2)            Apple has sold 100 million iPhones and 15 million iPads in 2010.

3)            iPad 2, like its predecessors starts at $499, will ship in the U.S. on March 11 and in 26 more countries on March 25.

 

4)            iPad 2 comes with dual-core 1 GHz A5 processor – twice as fast on CPU performance and up to 9 times faster in graphics. Gaming would be fun.

5)            iPad 2 has two cameras – front and rear for FaceTime with someone else’s iPad 2, iPhone 4, new iPod touch, or Mac over Wi-Fi.

6)            It’s 33% thinner than the original iPad, from 13.4 mm to 8.8 mm. Heck, it’s thinner than iPhone 4 which is 9.3 mm. This should send competitors back to the drawing board.

 

7)            It’s also slightly (15%) lighter at 1.3 lbs compared to its predecessor’s 1.5 lbs.

8 )            iPad 2 comes with new color – white.

 

9)          Battery’s life remains at 10-hour usage including 1-month on standby.

10)        The new iPad include a three-axis gyroscope, accelerometer, ambient light sensor, digital compass and an assisted GPS in the 3G models.

 

11)        iPad 2 packs HDMI capability – a special HDMI Apple adapter for $39 which Apple dubbed Video Mirroring to display any video or app on your HDTV in 1080p.

12)        iPad Smart Cover – cool looking magnetic clasps that either wakes up the iPad or puts it to sleep depending on whether it’s being attached or removed. The magnets inside the cover also allow it to fold over and stick to itself, forming a stand or prop for the tablet when it’s being used for reading, viewing, or typing. Choose from ten bright colors – 5 colors for polyurethane case and 5 for the aniline-dyed Italian leather. The polyurethane version of the case will sell for $39, while leather one goes for $69.

 

 

13)        iOS 4.3 which is hitting iOS users on March 11 and supports iPad, iPhone (GSM) and iPod Touch (3rd and 4th generation) to bring faster Safari performance, enable iPhone 4 as personal hotspot and airplay enhancement

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• Strong Sales Show Kindle, iPad, iPhone Can Co-Exist
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March 3rd, 2011 by financetwitter

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