After months of speculation, the wait is nearly over. All eyes will be fixed on Apple CEO Steve Jobs as he appears on stage at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts to announce what most everyone presumes will be an Apple Tablet.
USA TODAY is at Apple's own state of the union, which starts at 1 p.m. ET. We'll set the scene and let you know throughout the event just what Jobs announces - and what it all means.
Among those spotted in the crowd: former vice president Al Gore and Intuit co-founder Scott Cook.
1:06 p.m. ET: Apple CEO Steve Jobs has just taken the stage wearing his customary black turtleneck and blue jeans. Jobs says the company just sold its 250 millionth iPod, while Apple stores have welcomed 50 million visitors in the last quarter.
1:12 p.m. ET: It's official. Jobs unveils the very thin iPad tablet computer. Jobs claims it will offer the best browsing experience you can have, like "holding the Internet in your hands."
1:14 p.m.: The device will include e-mail, photos, maps, built-in iTunes store and YouTube functionality.
USA TODAY is at Apple's own state of the union, which starts at 1 p.m. ET. We'll set the scene and let you know throughout the event just what Jobs announces - and what it all means.
Among those spotted in the crowd: former vice president Al Gore and Intuit co-founder Scott Cook.
1:06 p.m. ET: Apple CEO Steve Jobs has just taken the stage wearing his customary black turtleneck and blue jeans. Jobs says the company just sold its 250 millionth iPod, while Apple stores have welcomed 50 million visitors in the last quarter.
1:12 p.m. ET: It's official. Jobs unveils the very thin iPad tablet computer. Jobs claims it will offer the best browsing experience you can have, like "holding the Internet in your hands."
1:14 p.m.: The device will include e-mail, photos, maps, built-in iTunes store and YouTube functionality.
1:16 p.m.: Jobs is demonstrating the iPad, visiting the home pages of The New York Times, Time Magazine and Fandango.
1:20 p.m.: Jobs offers a quick view of e-mail before moving onto photos. Photos looks a lot like the iPhoto app on the Mac. You can switch the device from portrait to landscape view. Users can also look at photo as albums. If on a Mac, users can get events, places and faces, as well as flick left or right through photos.
1:23 p.m.: Jobs is showing a slideshow of Paris on the iPad. Nice effects. As for managing your music, you can scroll through albums, tap on something you like to play a song. The device will include the iTunes store built in. No word on storage for the device or if Jobs is playing music from the "cloud" or the device itself.
1:28 p.m.: Jobs moves on to the calendar. Users can drag their finger over events to get a weekly or daily view. The Contacts application looks sharp. Jobs transitions to the Maps app. Viewing the Eiffel Tower, Jobs taps a corner to go to satellite view. Users can pinch the image to move in close.
Jobs moves from the Eiffel Tower to the event's current location in San Francisco. He types in sushi using the iPad's virtual keyboard and finds nearby sushi places, including up-close pictures of a local sushi restaunt called Sushi Boat. Jobs now shows off YouTube video, playing an HD video of a surfing dog. Looks surprisingly nice.
1:33 p.m.: "Watching it is nothing like getting one in your hands," Jobs says, before moving on to the iPad's technical specs. The device is 0.5 inches thin and weights 1.5 pounds, thinner and lighter than any netbook. It has a 9.7-inch IPS (high quality) display and full capacity multi-touch screen. The device is powered by Apple's own custom silicon chip.
The iPad will be available with 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB of Flash storage. It will also include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a speaker, microphone, compass and 30-pin connector to plug into iPod accessories.
As for battery life, Jobs says it last up to 10 hours. You always have to take battery claims with a grain of salt, but if that is close to being true, that is a big deal.
1:37 p.m.: Scott Forstall, senior vice president of iPhone software takes the stage to talk about the App Store. He says there are currently 140,000 apps on the store. "We built iPad to run virtually every one of these apps right out of the box," Forstall says.
1:40 p.m.: The apps will automatically scale up full screen when you tap "2x". Forstall is launching ESPN X Games SnoCross, an arcade racing game. Looks good. Users steer with the accelerometer. It looks surprinslgy smooth during the demonstration.
Users can hook the iPad up to iTunes and download apps they already have and they're good to go. Forstall says a developer that spends time modfiying applications can take full advantage of the touch screen display.
Apple has also enhanced the iPhone SDK (developers' kit), so developers can go to apple.com today to download. The SDK includes an iPod simulator, so developers can run iPad apps right on Mac during development. Every iPad will have access to the App Store built in.
1:20 p.m.: Jobs offers a quick view of e-mail before moving onto photos. Photos looks a lot like the iPhoto app on the Mac. You can switch the device from portrait to landscape view. Users can also look at photo as albums. If on a Mac, users can get events, places and faces, as well as flick left or right through photos.
1:23 p.m.: Jobs is showing a slideshow of Paris on the iPad. Nice effects. As for managing your music, you can scroll through albums, tap on something you like to play a song. The device will include the iTunes store built in. No word on storage for the device or if Jobs is playing music from the "cloud" or the device itself.
1:28 p.m.: Jobs moves on to the calendar. Users can drag their finger over events to get a weekly or daily view. The Contacts application looks sharp. Jobs transitions to the Maps app. Viewing the Eiffel Tower, Jobs taps a corner to go to satellite view. Users can pinch the image to move in close.
Jobs moves from the Eiffel Tower to the event's current location in San Francisco. He types in sushi using the iPad's virtual keyboard and finds nearby sushi places, including up-close pictures of a local sushi restaunt called Sushi Boat. Jobs now shows off YouTube video, playing an HD video of a surfing dog. Looks surprisingly nice.
1:33 p.m.: "Watching it is nothing like getting one in your hands," Jobs says, before moving on to the iPad's technical specs. The device is 0.5 inches thin and weights 1.5 pounds, thinner and lighter than any netbook. It has a 9.7-inch IPS (high quality) display and full capacity multi-touch screen. The device is powered by Apple's own custom silicon chip.
The iPad will be available with 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB of Flash storage. It will also include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a speaker, microphone, compass and 30-pin connector to plug into iPod accessories.
As for battery life, Jobs says it last up to 10 hours. You always have to take battery claims with a grain of salt, but if that is close to being true, that is a big deal.
1:37 p.m.: Scott Forstall, senior vice president of iPhone software takes the stage to talk about the App Store. He says there are currently 140,000 apps on the store. "We built iPad to run virtually every one of these apps right out of the box," Forstall says.
1:40 p.m.: The apps will automatically scale up full screen when you tap "2x". Forstall is launching ESPN X Games SnoCross, an arcade racing game. Looks good. Users steer with the accelerometer. It looks surprinslgy smooth during the demonstration.
Users can hook the iPad up to iTunes and download apps they already have and they're good to go. Forstall says a developer that spends time modfiying applications can take full advantage of the touch screen display.
Apple has also enhanced the iPhone SDK (developers' kit), so developers can go to apple.com today to download. The SDK includes an iPod simulator, so developers can run iPad apps right on Mac during development. Every iPad will have access to the App Store built in.
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