Apple has finally released a new product to the public. Apple wouldn’t even have to show this product and get millions to buy it without a sweat. Fortunately, they did give it a name. It is the iPad. iPad? What in the world is that…? A virtual mattress? No! The iPad is said to be somewhere in between a computer and an iPhone. Apple came out with this product to target businessmen, gamers, Mac lovers, and all sorts of people.

Okay, well please explain it a little better than just “a big iPod”.

That’s what I’m here to do for you! The iPad offers a 9.7 inch backlit LED screen, and is only 1.5 pounds with a thickness of 0.5 inches. The iPad gives you the ability to download anything directly onto it with its Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and 3G AT&T capabilities. All of these capabilities ensure that the iPad user will be capable of the fastest connection and downloading speed out of any of Apple’s products.

Is there an app for that? The answer is yes. Yes to any situation one could think of. With the iPad, the user has 140,000 apps or more at their fingertips. There are apps being created every second of the day. Need an app? I can assure all that there is one.

Speculators were…well for a lack of a better term… speculating that the price of the iPad would be nearly $800 or even $900. Yet, Apple came out with a debut price of only $499! Somehow, Apple really worked on their price, because the user is paying only $499 for an iPod and a computer!

The network offered through the iPad is AT&T. Some may say how poor of a company AT&T is, and this, or that. The truth is, AT&T is doing everything in its power to ensure that the iPad user obtains the best wireless connection. AT&T has invested two billion dollars into creating a better  experience for the iPad user and is planning to invest 900% more within the next few months. AT&T is going to stop at nothing to make the iPad perfect!

Well, what about the features? I think a better way to ask this is what features does it NOT have? The iPad features YouTube, Safari, 140,000 apps, photos, iTunes, iPod, App Store, iBooks, maps, calendar, and contacts to just name a few. Any Apple owner knows that Apple has had all of these things since the iPod touch. Well, not only does it have all these features, but it has the updated versions of all of them.

The iPad has a new accelerometer that has been upgraded from the previous iPhone accelerometer. The iPad’s accelerometer uses both X and Y axes to ensure a real 3D feel to it. This new upgrade is brilliant for the gamers out there.

Apple’s new iPad has so many features going for it. The new technology it offers is truly endless. One could not go wrong purchasing this new iPad. The targeted audience? The human race.

It is inevitable that Amazon might lose its portion of the market share to Apple after the debut of the iPad device. This is not something that Amazon wants to experience, of course. Therefore, Amazon is currently attempting to keep up with Apple iPad. One of the steps Amazon is taking is the acquisition of a company that happens to be known as Touchco.

Touchco can be considered a newcomer in the industry of touch screen interface. Amazon and Touchco reached a deal last Wednesday (4th February 2010).

By aquiring the Touchco company, Amazon is intending to make their Amazon Kindle a more powerful device than it is at the moment. Amazon happens to be one of the pioneers of digital books. The company has sold 1.5 million units of the Amazon Kindle and they have become affiliated with loads of publishers as well, including the New York Times, in order to publish hundreds of thousands of digital books and articles that can be read on an Amazon Kindle device. Now, this step is exactly what Apple is also trying to take.

However, it is bad news to Amazon that the technology powering the Apple iPad is more attractive. The Apple iPad does not come with a black on white screen like the common digital book usually does. The device is also capable of supporting multi touch just as the iPod and iPhone do. Thanks to these kinds of technology, people can easily zoom in or zoom out with a few simple movements of their fingers.

Yet, the reason Amazon took acquisition of Touchco is to equip the Amazon Kindle with this multi touch technology. Touchco will be collaborating with the staff of the Kindle division, Lab 126, to achieve this goal. However, we cannot obtain further information since Amazon and Touchco prefer to stay quiet about it.

Word on the street is Touchco is using interpolating force-sensitive resistance technology. This technology will make it possible for users to give instructions to a device by simply touching it. Moreover, the screen is clear besides economic. For a screen that measures around 30 square centimeters, the cost is figured to be around $10 or less.

Touchco is also able to support multi touch which makes it possible for the company to identify which touch is slight and which touch is heavy. The company is planning to stick this screen onto an LCD just as Apple and Hewlett Packard exactly do. Another feature that Amazon is considering is a colorful screen.

Donalr Norman, a professor at the Northwestern University, tells New York Times that to compete with the iPad, Kindle came up with a lot of breakthroughs. The E-Ink technology that is being used by Kindle can be a superior factor over an iPad due to its proven durability for battery life. With cheaper a price, he is quite confident that Amazon is able to keep up with Apple. The next thing Amazon might need to do then is offer users a device that can accommodate multimedia applications.

The Apple iPad may have been an ingenious product, yes, but long before it made its debut to the public, there was another massively impressive product. A product which readers all around the world would scramble to purchase. This product was known as the Amazon Kindle, or more simply put: the Kindle.

Most would know that there are many of these electronic book-readers on the market, but the Amazon Kindle is set far above any other reader. One who holds this Kindle would closely relate it to holding something approximately the thickness of a magazine because the Kindle is nearly 1/3 of an inch! No longer will one have to cramp their hands to hold down the pages of a book or have to worry about pages ripping or tearing.

The Kindle takes advantage of a vast 3G network to wirelessly download nearly any e-book on-the-go. One may be already sold on this product, but it gets even better! The e-book can be downloaded anywhere in over 100 countries in 60 seconds or under! Can’t quite grasp this concept? Say one was driving a long drive through Montana and just finished their book. In less than 60 seconds, that person can get their own copy of thousands of books without making a stop! No PC is necessary for these downloads!

The reader’s eyes are the most valuable items when reading a book. Depending on the comfort of their eyes they can determine how much the book is enjoyed. That’s the beauty of a Kindle, it is designed so that there is no glare, even when bright light is shone directly upon it.  

Possibly one of the most intriguing options for the reader is the option to choose Text-to-Speech. With this option, one can simply listen to the device as it reads the book to the reader. That way, no matter what the reader is doing, it is a hands-off activity! 
All right, now let’s take a look at a new product: the iPad.

The iPad can also be used to read e-books just like the Amazon Kindle. Just like the Kindle, one can browse through thousands upon thousands of e-books that they can download.

They have all this at the tips of their fingers (literally!).

The Amazon Kindle connects using a 3G network, some might say that the iPad is a step and a half ahead due to the capable of a Wi-Fi network along with Bluetooth. There are many types of connectivity that the iPad allows so the ready can always be connected!

The Amazon Kindle, and iPad both offer an outstanding 9.7 inch viewing screen. Each one has its own pluses and minuses: The iPad is a touch-screen, however, it is not meant to be a book-reader so it does not eliminate that pesky glare that readers hate. This does not mean that it does not offer a quality screen.

Not only does the iPad offer a great screen for the user to maneuver with their finger-tips, but it also allows the user to output the viewing screen to en external device such as a TV. This is especially great for the business man, or college professor.   
The Amazon Kindle and iPad both offer a wide spectrum of uses, advantages, and disadvantages. It is simply up to the user to determine which one fits their personal needs best.