- Keeps Battery Life, Display Resolution, Price Structure
- Cameras and Chips Keep Competitors at Bay
At a live event this week, Apple introduced the world to the iPad 2, the thinner, lighter and stronger brother to the iPad. The iPad 2 improves on the original model in a few ways and has answered a lot of the qualms about the original: it’s 33% thinner and 15% lighter, it has front- and rear-facing cameras, and it features a new dual-core processor, the A5.
Apple did leave users out in the cold on a few features, mainly a higher-resolution display and 4G network access, which has already fueled speculation for the iPad 3 to be coming perhaps at the end of Q3.
The iPad 2 will launch in both black and white, and Steve Jobs, who was looking healthy by all accounts, said that the company wouldn’t make the same color wrongdoing as it did with the white iPhone 4. According to Jobs, the white iPad 2 will ship “from day one.”
So far, day one appears to be March 11 for the US and March 25 for 26 other countries. The iPad will ship with iOS 4.3, and so far there’s no pre-ordering info up on Apple’s site.
While the screen’s resolution is the same as the first iPad, Jobs said the iPad 2 can support 1080p video-out and mirrored video through an HDMI adapter — which Apple sells for $39 and is one of the first peripherals for which we can remember getting such big billing at an Apple event. It appears that this may simply be an upscaled 720p video, however, because the video codec that Apple lists on its Web site for the iPad 2 all top out at 720p.
There’s a 1% chance that Apple simply copied and pasted the supported formats from its original iPad listing and that true 1080p is supported, so we’re pretty sure it is just beefing up its 720p.
To the joy of complainers everywhere, the iPad 2 features two cameras, with the rear able to record up to 720p and the front-facing camera at VGA quality.
The iPad 2 will work with both AT&T’s HSUPA and Verizon’s EVDO network, but their catch is that users will have to pick — there are models for each version so no cross pollinating your mobile love. The iPad 2 can’t act as a hotspot. It’s also not clear if this is an Apple or a carrier restriction. However, the update is at least coming to the iPhone 4, so there’s hope down the road.
For users not convinced that the upgrades are worth it, Apple is knocking off $100 from the original iPad, which can be found in the clearance part of its online store.
| | Wi-Fi Only | 3G + Wi-Fi |
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iPad 2 | 16GB | $499.00 | $629.00 |
| 32GB | $599.00 | $729.00 |
| 64GB | $699.00 | $829.00 |
Original iPad | |
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| 16GB | $399.00 | $529.00 |
| 32GB | $499.00 | $629.00 |
| 64GB | $599.00 | $729.00 |
Hardware Specs
Apple’s iPad 2 Web page went up about halfway through the announcement. According to the page and from what Steve Jobs announced at its unveiling event, here is the breakdown of the iPad 2 so far:
- Battery life: “Up to 10 hours of surfing the Web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music.” This goes down to nine hours for surfing the Web over 3G.
- Display: Still a 9.7-inch display with 1024x768 pixel resolution. Can support 1080p video-out but codecs appear to limit its display to 720p (and its 1080p-out is likely just upscaled 720p).
- Size: 8.8mm thick and only 1.33 pounds (1.34 pounds for the 3G version). This is 33% slimmer than the first version. The iPhone 4 is thicker than the iPad 2, coming in at 9.3mm.
- Buttons: Home, On/Off (Sleep/Wake), Silent, Volume Up and Volume Down.
- Processor: A5 chip. It’s a 1 GHz dual-core custom-designed chip that delivers “2X CPU speed, 9X graphics speed” of the A4 (in the original iPad) while using the same amount of power as the A4.
- Connectivity: All models support 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1.
- Front-facing camera: Video recording, VGA up to 30 frames per second with audio; VGA-quality still camera.
- Rear-facing camera: Video recording with 720p up to 30 frames per second with audio. Still camera with 5x digital zoom.
- Cameras: Users can tap to control exposure of video and stills; photos and video can be geo-tagged over Wi-Fi.
- Input/Output: Apple said the iPad will have a microphone, speaker, 3.5mm headphone jack and a 30-pin dock connector port.
- Sensors: Apple has added a three-axis gyroscope and a digital compass to its accelerometer and ambient light sensor.
- Supported Audio: “HE-AAC (V1 and V2), AAC (8 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), MP3 (8 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4, Audible Enhanced Audio, AAX, and AAX+), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV.”
- Supported Video: "H.264 video up to 720p, 30 frames per second, Main Profile level 3.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format.”
- Video-Out: The iPad 2 supports 1080p video-out through the digital AV adaptor or dock connector VGA adapter. Video-out support of 576p and 480p is supported with component AV cables.
- Shipping and Ordering: Jobs said it will ship in the US on March 11 and on March 25 it’ll ship to 26 more countries. Apple doesn’t yet have ordering information available but it appears users will be able to order before March 11. When asked if March 11 was the first day it would be available for order, an Apple representative told us “We’ve not announced any sort of pre-order quite yet, so I wouldn’t be able to speculate.”
- Other countries: Apple confirmed March 25 as the shipping date for Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Ireland, Hungary, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.
Just the Facts
What’s a good Apple announcement without the company rattling off a list of sales figures and achievements? Here are the highlights from the iPad 2 announcement:
- 15 million iPads sold in its nine months of availability in 2010. It also said this was more than 90% of the tablet market.
- Steve Jobs said in 2010 the iPad sold “more than every tablet PC ever sold.” Also said that “We’ve never had a product to get off to that fast of a start.”
- There are now 65,000+ apps specifically for the iPad.
- Jobs said competitors launch with “at most 100 apps” and “we’re being generous here” — speaking of tablet-specific apps, only 100 or so made for Honeycomb itself according to Apple.
- There was a big boost by Apple retail stores.
- Recently sold one-millionth iPhone.
- Paid out more than $2 billion to developers. This means the store has made roughly $2.86 billion total, and Apple has made roughly $860 million off of App sales/pricing — the actual numbers will be slightly higher since Apple produced some big-selling apps and likely doesn’t have to do a percentage sharing with the developer in that case.
- Chicago Public Schools tech director said students are getting gains as high as 50% or 60% in reading, maths and science with the help of iPads.
- Jobs said the iPad 2 will be first dual core tablet to ship in volume.
iOS 4.3
There were a few announcements about the upcoming iOS 4.3 update, which should be arriving March 10 or 11. While Safari got a boost with a new Nitro JavaScript engine and the iTunes Home Sharing feature was extended to all iOS devices, the big news came from AirPlay.
According to Job’s announcement, the AirPlay feature will work with every app that the iPad 2 supports. This means that AirPlay will be able to take any audio and video from the iPad and distribute it to other devices, like an Apple TV.
The service makes Apple TV a pretty killer STB because it extends more content to the STB than ever before — and even more than some of its competition has. The best example of this is Hulu Plus. On non-PC devices, like the Roku STB, Hulu Plus limits what content is available. The limitation, however, has not been present on the iPad.
The Peanuts (Charlie Brown and the gang) holiday content this past winter was available for watching on the iPad but not Roku’s STB because, as a Hulu pop-up explained, Hulu didn’t have the proper rights to show it on a TV. The user with an iPad 2 will be able to get this content on their PC-classified device and then push it to an Apple TV. This means that Snoopy and friends will show up on an a TV through an Apple TV, but Roku users will have to return to their PC to tune in.
Hulu has similar content restrictions for new content and some of these aren’t available on the iPad, but it appears that most of the older content restricted to the PC can also be seen on the iPad.
A few of the other major announcements also included the iPhone 4 getting the ability to use its 3G connection as Wi-Fi hotspot for other devices — too bad everyone is ditching unlimited data plans — and FaceTime coming to the iPad 2.
Users can now use FaceTime for video calling between two iPad 2s, between an iPad and an iPhone (3GS or 4) or an iPod touch, and between an iPad and a Mac. iPad users can switch between its two cameras for FaceTime.
Accessories
Apple isn’t really one to show off peripherals, but this event was a definite expectation. While there are many already available for the iPad, Apple highlighted two key additions: a digital AV adapter and a new smart cover.
The new Apple Digital AV Adapter facilitates video mirroring, allowing the iPad 2 user to share what’s on their iPad with an HDTV, HD projector and other screens. It’ll cost users $39.
Apple said that video mirroring is engineered into iOS to facilitate changes in the iPad, such as smooth transitions between portrait and landscape modes, as well as still allowing full interaction on the iPad itself.
Apple introduced a companion to the 30-pin to HDMI adapter, allowing users to connect a USB-based power source, letting them charge their iPad (or at least let it keep its juice) while a movie or presentation is going.
During his presentation, Jobs expressed some disappointment with the original iPad case, mainly because it covered up the design so much. So for the iPad there’s a whole new Smart Cover.
The Smart Cover is a polyurethane or leather cover that lays only on the iPad’s screen. The cover hinges magnetically on the side of the iPad 2, which allows the iPad to detect when the cover is being removed so it can wake itself automatically. The cover also folds underneath the iPad 2 to prop it up in multiple ways.
Apple has introduced a new dock that gives access to a port for syncing/charging and an audio-out for connected powered speakers. It also works with existing iPad accessories.
Both the dock and the Smart Cover are made specifically for the iPad 2.
Unchanged accessories include the camera connector, SD card reader, wireless keyboards, VGA adapter, 10W USB power adapter and others.
iPad 1: Buy Back, Sell Off
As soon as the iPad 2 hit, people realized they just weren’t satisfied with the original model and are looking to dump it off or return it.
Apple has announced that customers who bought a first-generation iPad in the past two weeks can opt to return their device or request a $100 refund since the iPad 2 launch came with an iPad 1 price drop. This goes back to users making purchases on or after February 16.
Gadget-buyer Gazelle bought 2,000 used iPads within the hour of the iPad 2 announcement, a stark comparison to the 1,200 iPhones (multiple generations) that the company purchased during the first day after the iPhone 4 was announced.
Gazelle turns around and sells items via its eBay storefront. Gazelle was already selling used iPads for $100 to $200 off the price of a new device, and all of these prices have now dropped by another $100 or so.
We’ve seen roughly 150 iPad.
However, if users must get the latest version, they can head over to Apple’s Web site, an Apple store, a Wal-Mart location or even Best Buy.
Analyst Roundup
Carolina Milanesi, VP of research for consumer technologies at Gartner, told the Guardian:
- “Competitors have a new benchmark. As they roll out their first-generation devices, Apple has moved the game to the next level” giving “Apple a larger addressable market. If competitors will come down on price it will certainly be done with a compromise on specifications, even if it is just on the screen size. With Apple you do not compromise your overall experience.”
- “Competitors are making the same mistake that mobile vendors made with their response to iPhone: they are making the battle about hardware, and with tablets this is even less the case than it was for smartphones. What you are empowered to do with your tablet makes the difference.”
eMarketer has said that Apple holds 85% of the market now and will retain 78% of the global market through 2011. It estimates 34 million iPad sales in 2011, while the total market reaches roughly 43.6 million units.
Sarah Rotman of Forrester said that the iPad 2 will secure 80% of the tablet market in 2011:
- “Apple understands desire.” Rotman pointed to it being lighter and colors giving people more emotional attachment to the new line. “The rest is important but more cerebral.”
- “In a post-PC world, consumers have a more intimate relationship with their devices. They use them on the couch and in bed and not just at their desk. They show their devices to other people.”
- 40% of iPad owners in Forrester’s surveys regularly share their iPads with other people.
Steve Jobs may have summed up best what everyone is thinking about the iPad and Apple: “It’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough. It’s technology married with liberal arts, humanities, that yields us the result that makes our heart sing. And nowhere is that more true than in these post-PC devices. And a lot of folks in this tablet market are rushing in and looking at this as the next PC.”
Your Couch, The Final Destination
The iPad has ushered in a truly “post-PC” world, as Jobs said, but the iPad has also shrunk our world to make it center around one key area: the sofa.
The big announcements for apps at this year’s CES were TV and DVR apps that not only gave users control, but allowed various tablets to stream content direct to the tablet. Beyond that, Gracenote showed off apps that could detect what a user is watching and deliver relevant content to them. It said it was presenting the apps to marketing partners, and IntoNow actually launched an app for the average user that does this; both companies do it through listening to the audio coming from a TV.
Yahoo demonstrated an interactive TV experience where broadcasters could embed signals for extra content directly within a TV broadcast, and the company said it was eyeing more mobile devices for down the road.
Jobs said the point of Apple’s latest device was to bring a more intimate experience and relationship that is beyond just PC computing. Forrester said its research found that users are more likely to take an iPad to the couch or a bed than to their desk.
The iPad 2 received a lot of integration with livingroom CE, thanks to updates to AirPlay, home networking sharing and even a 1080p-out accessory.
The iPad 2 is being positioned as a social computer. It’s no longer “one screen per user” — it’s something that the family can pass around to see related information or that can be shared intimately between people. Compare it to other mobiles, and content engagement is longer. Games designed as apps for the iPad are typically larger and longer because users are sitting down for an hour or two when they play, instead of five minute bursts. The same goes for video content. CBS’ original TV.com mobile app broke TV show episodes down into multiple video segments so users could easily start and stop watching shows without much effort to find where they were. Apps for the iPad not only don’t break up content, but they promote watching full-length films and behind-the-scenes and commentary extras.
The iPad 2 has made some great hardware updates, with a few apps added in by Apple, but facilitating processing and content sharing were the best things Apple could possibly do.
Since our first report on the iPad, we at Rider Research have been impressed with one key factor: it allows people to use the device however they want and bends over backwards to facilitate new functionality. All closed-versus-open comments aside, Apple has updated the iPad line to allow users to share more, both experiences and content, with others, all without limiting what the user wants to do.
The greatest thing about the tablet sector is that we’ve yet to define limits as to where it will go or what users can do. Apple has the lead because it first opened up this possibility to users, and it will keep that lead because it is presenting solid hardware and design in a speedy manner. We’ve known about the iPad 2 for only a few days, but it’s still arriving far quicker than most tablets announced even before CES, especially for users outside of the US.
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