Resolutionary

On Wednesday, March 7, Apple announced the launch of its newest product, the new iPad.“Everybody’s been wondering. Well stop wondering. We are…The New iPad!” said Apple CEO Tim Cook at the unveiling in San Francisco on Wednesday.The new iPad looks and feels very much like its predecessors, but offers more. It has a high-resolution retina display, creating a screen with about twice the resolution as the iPad 2.This device also offers its most powerful processor yet with an A5X processor that allows quad-core graphics and an improved camera. In addition, this is the first Apple device to feature the fastest wireless technology, offering a 4G connection through both AT&T and Verizon. The new iPad can run for 10 hours and will last for nine when on 4G.

“It’s really an incredible feat of engineering. Apps are going to pop, photos are going to pop and videos are going to look great. People are going to love it” quoted Mark Gurman, senior editor at 9to5Mac.

The original iPad, when released, was considered a groundbreaking innovation. It single-handedly created a new product category, which then began the race to create the next best, or at least the most competitive, tablet on the market. Last year alone, more than 100 tablets came on to the market. But Apple argues that no other tablet device offers the same experience as the iPad.

“You won’t find these incredible apps on other tablets. In some estimates there were over 100 competitive tablets launched last year. You won’t find that same competitive experience,” Cook said.

Apple views the iPad as the poster child for this post-PC world. The new iPad is the next step up in the increasing momentum of a post-PC world. The original goal of the iPad was to create an entirely new category of technology. Apple wanted to design the best device for the highest performance in the things people do most often, for example web browsing and checking email, and that is what it did.

“This is a key reason why momentum on iPad continues to build and the competitive tablets aren’t gaining traction,” Cook said.

The original iPad challenged the rest of the tech world to rival with Apple in the tablet market. As of September 2011, in a report by Forrester Research, an estimated 73 percent of the tablet market was iPad, but that was before Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire which became a hot seller. Popularity growing, an estimated 3.9 million Kindle Fires were shipped in the fourth quarter of 2011. Other challengers have appeared as well, including Microsoft, which is preparing a touchscreen-friendly version of Windows.

But Apple deems this new iPad, “resolutionary.” And with a spectacular new display, along with other improvements, Apple may just be able to keep its streak alive against their competitors. The new iPad is available in several models; a basic 16GB cost is $499, 32GB is $599 and 64GB is $699. The models with 4G connections cost $629, $729 and $829.