GDC 2011: Apple Reveals Redesigned iPad, App Dominance

Today in San Francisco, Apple unveiled the iPad 2 -- an entirely redesigned version of its popular tablet device, set to go on sale globally this March. Gamasutra attended the Steve Jobs keynote speech which unveiled the iPad 2. The device is launching on March 11 in the U.S. and March 26 in other major global territories. The base 16 GB + wifi version of the tablet will sell for $499 in the U.S. The maximum-spec device at 64 GB + wifi + 3G will sell for $829. The current device has sold "almost 15 million iPads in 2010, and remember, that's just nine months," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. With those sales, it generated $9.5 billion in revenue for the company in 2010. "We're at a position now where the majority of our revenues come from these post-PC products," said Jobs, in reference to the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Jobs said the company currently has over 90 percent market share in the tablet PC segment. "People laughed at us for using the word magical, but it's turned out to be magical," he joked. Currently 65,000 of the apps on the App Store "take full advantage" of the iPad, Jobs said. The App Store currently has 200 million registered accounts with attached credit card information -- "very likely this is the most accounts with credit cards anywhere on the internet," said Jobs -- and the company has paid out over $2 billion to developers cumulatively for sales of iOS App Store titles. The CEO also announced that the company has shipped 100 million iPhones. The new iPad is 33 percent thinner than the original, and will ship in black and white versions at launch. The new device also adds rear and front video cameras, a gyroscope, and shaves the weight of the device to 1.3 pounds while maintaining 10 hours of battery life. It also adds HDMI video out at up to 1080p resolution and will support all applications with no user configuration through a proprietary $39 cable. Alongside the iPad 2 launch on March 11, the company will also release iOS 4.3, which includes various improvements to the OS including AirPlay, iTunes Home sharing, and more. It will be compatible with all iPads, the iPhone's 3GS and 4 models, and 3rd and 4th gen iPod Touch devices. Prior to announcing two new apps for the iPad -- iMovie and Garage Band -- Jobs remarked that the company likes to develop its own apps for two reasons: "it gives us feedback so we can make the system better and better and better for developers," and Apple's apps "set the bar [and] give third party developers the chance to say 'Apple can do that? I can do better!'" "It's in Apple's DNA that technology alone is not enough. It's technology married with liberal arts, with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our hearts sing. Nowhere is that more true than in these post-PC devices," said Jobs. "A lot of folks in this tablet market are rushing in and seeing this as the next PC. Our experience and every bone in our body says that this is not the right approach to this. These are post-PC devices that need to be even easier to use than a PC. That need to be even more intuitive than a PC. And where the software, hardware, and applications need to intertwine in a more seamless way than the PC." "We think 2011 is clearly going to be the year of iPad 2," Jobs concluded.