As soon as the event started the stock started dropping but picked up steam as the event went on, especially after the pricing was announced. As a stockholder I am happy with this device. It is everything that was expected at a cheaper price than expected. The most expensive version is $829, well under $1000 and the cheapest starts at $499.
However I’m slightly disappointed that there were no announcements other than the iPad. No new iPhone. No news about ending iPhone exclusivity. The good part was that the iPad is unlocked so you can use it with any provider, not just AT&T and the web browsing deal with AT&T is good.
As a consumer, I would wait for the iPad 2.0 because this version has no webcam, no real connectivity except wireless (aka not so hot for presentations, connecting to TV etc.) and no integrated memory slot.
I’m not sure how serious a competitor this is to the kindle because I’m not sure how many people use the Kindle’s data connection to download books. If the data connection is not that often used, then the $499 version is a serious threat to the Kindle because it is full color, has a bookstore and much more than the Kindle or other book readers can possibly offer. However I’m not sure how the display does while reading (it is 1024*768 = blah) as compared to the eInk display on most book readers.
Overall I’m happy with the pricing and options and I think the stock is headed up. But not up as much as if Apple would end exclusivity with AT&T and bring in Verizon (or Sprint, or even T-Mobile if they want to stick with GSM) on board for the iPhone and the iPad.
Oh and the device uses Apples brand new 1GHz A4 processor, a result of their acquisition of PA Semi. From the demo it seems like this is a perfectly capable processor maybe more so than the other 1GHz processor out there – Qualcomm’s Snapdragon. Maybe the next iPhone will run on one of these? If they can make this processor maybe they can switch Macs to their own processors in the far future?