John Paczkowski

Recent Posts by John Paczkowski

Jobs Introduces Apple iPad 2


“Come see what 2011 will be the year of.”

Printed on the invitation to the special event Apple’s holding today in San Francisco, that tagline–a smirking riff on the deluge of post-CES “Year of The Tablet” stories–leaves little doubt about what the company plans to show off today: The next iteration of the iPad.

Join us here at 10 AM PT for live coverage of the event.

9:35 am: The AllthingsD team has arrived we are waiting to be let into the auditorium at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

9:43 am: Finally inside the theater now after enduring a Tokyo subway-style queue. Spotted outside earlier this morning, Pixar’s John Lasseter and Walter Isaacson, formerly Chairman and CEO of CNN and the Managing Editor of TIME.

9:48 am: Attendees still filing in to fill what will presumably be a packed house. Beatles in heavy rotation on the speaker system. Down front, Apple’s executive bench has assembled: Tim Cook, Phil Schiller, Jony Ive, Eddie Cue and Bob Mansfield.

9:53 am: Ina here. John’s going to be doing the play-by-play and I’ll chime in from time to time with color commentary. If you have questions, feel free to tweet @inafried and I will try to answer them.

9:58 am: If you are sad you aren’t here inside Yerba Buena, here’s a 360-degree panorama of what it looks like.

9:57 am: If Cook, Schiller, Ive and Mansfield are all in the front row two minutes prior to the event, I wonder who master of ceremonies will be …

10:00 am: Looks like we’re moments away from kick-off.

10:01 am: The lights dim to “Here Comes The Sun,” and Steve takes the stage to a standing ovation.

10:03 am: “We ve been working on this product for a while and I just didn’t want to miss the day,” he says.

First a few updates …

10:03 am: 100 million books have been downloaded from iBooks in less than a year, says Jobs, adding that today Random House is adding its catalog to the iBooks Store.

10:04 am: Moving on, Jobs notes that there are now 200 million iTunes accounts with credit cards and one-click purchasing. He suggests that that number may be larger than even Amazon’s registered user base.

10:05 am: Two more metrics: $2 billion paid out to iOS developers and 100 million iPhones shipped.

10:06 am: Now a quick overview of Apple’s blockbuster products: iPod, iPhone, and iPad. “Every one of these has been a post-PC blockbuster product,” says Jobs. He adds that people initially mocked Apple for claiming the iPad as magical. “Ask our competitors what they think now,” he quips.

10:08 am: “We sold 15 million iPads in 2010,” says Jobs. “That’s more than every tablet PC ever sold….iPad generated $9.5 billion in revenue last year…and our competitors were flummoxed.”

10:09 am: More numbers: 65,000 apps in App Store that take full advantage of iPad. “Consumption apps, creation apps, games, apps for enterprise…all taking advantage of this magical interface…65,000 apps specifically tailored to the iPad. That compares to the about 100 apps most of our rivals are launching their new tablets with.” Sharp little dig there at Google and its Android Honeycomb OS.

10:11 am: Ina here, Jobs clearly is not pulling any punches, getting in some good zingers in on all of its rivals, from Microsoft to Google to Samsung.

10:11 am: Now some compliments for Apple’s retail stores. Jobs seems to feel strongly that they really drove the iPad’s stunning adoption rates. Then a quick video reel celebrating that contribution as well as the iPad itself.

10:15 am: The video’s theme: the iPad as game changer–iPad is changing medicine. It’s changing enterprise. “It’s changing people’s lives.”

10:16 am: Ina here. Powerful moment with in the video with a mom of an autistic child talking about how the iPad is helping her son learn.

10:16 am: Jobs returns to the stage. “2010 was an exceptional year for us,” he says. “What will 2011 be? The year of the copycats?” A slide appears behind him posing the same question surrounded by the names of Apple’s competitors in the space–HP, Samsung, BlackBerry. Jobs notes that none of Apple’s rivals to date have been able to match iPad on features or price.

10:18 am: Nope, it won’t be the year of the copycats, says Jobs. It will be the year of iPad 2. “We haven’t been resting on our laurels,” he says. “Today we’re going to introduce iPad 2.”

10:18 am: And there it is. What’s changed in the device? It’s got an all new design, it’s dramatically faster, it runs on a dual-core A5 processor.
Up to 2x faster CPU, up to 9X faster graphics.
This will be the first dual core tablet to really ship in volume, says Jobs.

10:19 am: Also new in iPad 2: front and back facing cameras and gyroscope.

10:20 am: Aesthetically, iPad 2 is dramatically thinner. “Not just a little thinner,” says Jobs. “It’s a third thinner … the new iPad 2 is actually thinner than the iPhone 4… all of these other tablets coming out are thicker than the original iPad, they don’t even approach this”

10:21 am: iPad 2 is also lighter than its predecessor and comes in 2 colors: black and white. “And we’re going to be shipping white from day 1,” says Jobs to applause. No mention of the white iPhone 4, which still hasn’t shipped …

iPad 2 will support both AT&T and Verizon, also from day 1.

10:22 am: What about battery life? Though iPad 2 is thinner and lighter than iPad 1, it’s still got 10 hours of battery life. “We really happy to keep that and never let it go.”

10:24 am: Battery life isn’t the only thing Apple’s preserved in iPad 2. It’s preserved the devices price structure as well. $499 is still the base model price.”

10:24 am: Jobs: “We think 2011 is going to the year of iPad 2 … so when are we going to ship it? April, May, June? No. On March 11 in the US and on March 25th in 26 other countries…this thing’s going to be everywhere in the month of March.”

10:26 am: Moving on now to accessories. The first: an HDMI mirrored video out cable that works with all apps and supports rotation.

10:27 am: Guys behind me find this very, very exciting.

10:27 am: HDMI cable is $39.

10:27 am: Next up, a smart case. Jobs notes that Apple’s original case for the iPad added bulk and made the device difficult to charge. “We felt we could do better than that.” Hence, the smart cover, a foldable cover that can be used to prop up the device and also automatically puts the device to sleep when its placed on the device and wakes it up when it’s removed.

Interestingly, the cover is held onto the iPad by magnets that evidently auto-align it.

10:26 am: For all the specs, check out this post:

10:30 am: Smart covers are available in leather or polyurethene–“the stuff space suits are made of,” says Jobs.

10:31 am: “As you see, we actually built magnets into the iPad itself and magnets into the cover as well.”

Poly cases come in 5 colors are run $39. Leather cases come in 5 colors as well and run $69.

10:32 am: Along with iPad 2, Apple is releasing iOS 4.3. Jobs brings Scott Forstall on stage to talk about it.

10:33 am: 4.3 boasts improved Safari performance via a Nitro Javascript engine, iTunes Home Sharing and a bunch of AirPlay improvements.

The next iteration of AirPlay supports video play in apps as well as the browser.

10:35 am: Another addition, allowing users to use the iPad switch as a mute button or a rotation lock.

10:35 am: And another, this one for iPhone 4 only–Personal Hotspot.

10:36 am: Moving on now to software updates. iOS 4.3 supports Apple’s PhotoBooth application with all its various filters which can now be manipulated with touch.

For all the basics on the new iOS 4.3 features, check out this post.

10:38 am: Next … FaceTime. “We support it on the iPhone and the iPod Touch and now we’re bringing it to iPad,” says Forstall adding that any combination of those devices can FaceTime one another.

“The size of the iPad is just ideal for FaceTime,” says Forestall. “Your face just fits perfectly within the dimensions of its screen.”

10:40 am: iOS 4.3 will be a free download on March 11 and it will support most of Apple’s newer iOS devices.

10:41 am: Jobs returns to the stage to talk about some new applications Apple is launching. “We like to set the bar high for developers so that they can say ‘wow, if Apple can do that, I can do better.'”

10:42 am: First application is iMovie for iPad, a new universal version for iOS that takes full advantage of the iPad form factor.

The fact that iMovie will be a universal app is nice for all those folks that have both iPads and iPhones–means they don’t have to purchase twice. (Ina)

10:43 am: Editing interface is similar to the one found on the Mac, but boasts touch editing. Tap and drop into timeline, double-tap to cut, press and hold to roll an edit.

10:45 am: Audio editing tools have been improved as well–waveform analysis, sound effects, support for multiple audio tracks and voiceover.

10:47 am: Also new in iMovie for iPad: Direct sharing with YouTube, Facebook, etc., and a few new transitions.

10:49 am: Jobs returns to the stage. “It’s awesome. It just blows my mind, this stuff….So many great features, all for $4.99.”

IMovie for iPad will be available on March 11 as well.

10:50 am: The second application Apple’s announcing today: GarageBand for iPad.

10:51 am: Xander Soren, Director of Music Marketing for Apple handles the demo.

10:51 am: the iPad’s touch interface obviously adds some pretty major enhancements to the application.

10:52 am: Soren plays a few notes on the iPad keyboard before moving on to talk about dynamics, which have been added to the application. Apple uses the iPad’s accelerometer to determine the force with which a note is played and uses it to create pretty realistic dynamics.

10:53 am: The app’s obviously perfect for keyboard, but what about guitar and drums?

10:55 am: Slick. Synthesizer panel supports a theremin-esque whammy.

I can’t play an instrument worth a darn, but the iPad version of Garage Band makes me wish I could. Amazing digital recreations of real-world gear. (Ina)

10:55 am:Drums look and sound pretty slick as well. Also uses touch to create dynamics.
“This is really great for kids who want drums,” says Soren. “They can play them with headphones.”

10:57 am: Oh wait, there are “smart instruments” for people like me. Winner (ina)

10:57 am: Classic Apple attention to detail. Laying your hand across the strings of the guitar panel mutes them.

10:58 am: “These smart instruments are like musical training wheels,” says Soren. “You really can’t play a wrong note.”

10:59 am: GarageBand for iPad’s editing canvas seems similar to its desktop counterpart, though it supports recording of up to 8 tracks only.

11:01 am: Apple’s press release on the iPad 2 has hit the wire here. (ina)

11:02 am: Steve returns to the stage. “I’m just blown away by this stuff…anyone can make music now with something so small and light….I cannot tell you how many hours teenagers are going to spend on this making music.”

Like iMovie, GarageBand for iPad is $4.99.

11:04 am: Jobs circles back now, reviewing what we’ve seen so far today. iPad 2–faster, lighter, thinner, black and white, iOS 4.3, Smart Covers, new applications …

“We think 2011 is really going to be the year of iPad 2.”

11:05 am: Rolling another video now. Apple execs lauding the new iteration of the iPad and stressing its new features. Jony Ive notes that the iPad 2 is easier to hold than its predecessor.

11:09 am: Scott Forstall recaps iOS 4.3 and new apps like GarageBand for iPad. Bob Mansfield offers some more detail on the device’s innards, its A5 chip and improved graphics performance.

11:10 am: Ive: “The original iPad defined a new category and iPad 2 will redefine it for years to come.”

11:11 am: Jobs returns to the stage to wrap things up with a few observations about the tablet market. “Our competitors are looking at the tablet market like it’s the next PC market,” he says. “But we don’t think that’s the right approach. Tablets are post-PC devices that need to be easier to use than a PC–more intuitive. The hardware and software need to intertwine much more than they do on a PC. And we think we’re on the right path with this.”

11:14 am: Then a call for applause for the employees who worked on iPad 2. Says Jobs, “As always, I’d also like to thank everyone’s families because they support us and let us do what we love to do.”

And that’s it.

Thanks for reading.

UPDATE: And here’s a video with a bit of post-event analysis.

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