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Who would
have thought that the most innovative thing about the
iPad was going to be its price?
Steve Jobs'
bombshell, that the widely anticipated multimedia tablet
from the company famous for its premium pricing would
start at
$499
, brought the audience, generally low key until then, to
its feet and even sent Apple's stock up by five bucks a
share at one point.
This was
seismic for two reasons. First, most of us figured it
would cost around
$1,000
. And second, that price means the iPad could savage two
categories of products: netbooks (stripped-down,
inexpensive laptops) and e-book readers.
With that
price, Jobs landed a sucker punch.
It's now
clear that all along Jobs had the netbook market in his
sights. At the start of his presentation, Jobs placed
the iPhone and the MacBook on the screen and talked
about the quest for a third category of product that fit
in between. He listed the things people like to do on
these devices: Web browsing, e-mail, photos, video,
music, games and e-books.
"If
there's going to be a third category device, it has to
be better at these tasks," Jobs said. "Some
people thought that would be netbooks. But netbooks
aren't better at anything. They're just cheap
laptops."
Zing.
Getting
the price and features of a new consumer gadget just
right is hard. The sweet spot is tiny.
Apple
scored a direct hit.
"When
we set out to develop the iPad, we not only had very
ambitious technical goals and user interface goals, but
we had a very aggressive price for it," Jobs said.
"We want to put this in the hands of lots of
people."
I admit
to being less than wowed with the iPad until I heard the
price. (Models with more memory cost
$599
and
$699
and 3G costs an additional
$130
, plus a data plan.) Ever since iPad rumors cranked up,
I'd been puzzled by a simple question: What problem will
the iPad solve for me? For much of Jobs' talk, I didn't
hear an answer.
There
were some nice tweaks in various Apple software and
services. But there had been a lot of chatter that Apple
was going to revolutionize the way we buy and sell
media, that there would be new systems for buying
content from newspapers, magazines and books. Maybe
there would be a new music streaming service. None of
that materialized.
What did
materialize was a remarkable gadget that outclasses any
netbook, and makes the Kindle and other e-book readers
pointless. Ten hours of battery life. Access to iPhone
apps. A slick e-reader with access to an online
bookstore from a company that's proven it knows how to
peddle digital content.
And a
revolutionary wireless plan. You can get an unlimited 3G
plan with
AT&T
for just
$30
a month. There is no contract. I repeat: no contract. A
mobile broadband plan from
Verizon Wireless
costs
$60
a month.
What does
the iPad lack? It has less memory than most netbooks. No
Webcam. It doesn't support Flash, which powers much of
Web video and which it will need if it's going to
deliver on Jobs' promise of being the best browsing
experience.
But these
are quibbles. And we can expect Apple to address some in
future versions.
Apple
still has to hope that people will buy this in addition
to its other products. If the iPad cannibalizes sales of
the iPod touch or low-end MacBooks, then the upside for
Apple will be muted.
And it
bears remembering that this is only just the start, and
that some of the biggest impact from Apple's products
didn't become apparent until well after their launch.
There was no app store when the iPhone debuted. It's
possible Jobs is still working on something that will
shake up the way we buy and view newspapers, magazines,
TV shows, movies and other media.
The first
iPads will go on sale in 60 days. The only guessing game
left now is when the lines will start forming outside
Apple stores.
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